The extremely and unrealistically complicated life of Rod Lifferjingle
by ToSmithereens
Summary: Imagine just for a moment, yourself... A teenager just out of highschool. Everything seems to be going normal. Life is going exceptionally well. When suddenly you are thrown into a destructive and brutal war. You are expected to join without question. What do you do? Well this is what happens to 19 year old Rod Lifferjingle. Read and find out his fate, for it will be hard one.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**Rod's POV**

_Beep beep, beep beep . . . _

"Ugh," I mumbled, pressing the alarm button. The door suddenly swung open. _Oh no!_ I thought, slapping my face.

"Morning Rod," Nicky Shurlton said in a geeky voice.

"Uhh," I moaned "Go away Nicky. I still want to slee—"

"Oh no, no, no we have a lot of stuff to do Rod, come on now get up," my room mate said, throwing off all my covers. He ran all around the room gathering books, clothes, writing materials, everything!

"Nicky! Uh, ah . . . gah! What the crap are you doing?!" I screamed.

"Huh?" he said stupidly, looking up. "Oh, don't you remember? Today were gunna go to the new university."

"Wait, what university? Oh no. Are you talking about that university that was called some 'um like Charles Camyon?"

"Charles Can n, n, yon University. And yes, that's the one. Now get packed. Let's go."

"I told you to say no to that offer!" I said, pulling on my hair. "That place is for geeks! Kind of like you."

"Oh, well too late. They have already pulled the money out of our accounts. And they do not accept refunds. I asked. Aren't I smart?" Nicky said with a really cheesy smile.

"Nicky you're an idiot."

"Oh really. Well I'm really sorr—"

"Get out."

"Huh? What di—."

"Get out, get out, get out! Leave! Go!" I said as I shoved him out of my room. I started gathering my stuff. _I am going to kill him!_

I gathered all my stuff and headed out the door. And sure enough there was Nicky waiting for me. We ran down the stairs, skipping steps. My Lamborghini Diablo was out there waiting for me. Sure it's used and it could do with a thing here and there, but it's still a Lamborghini. That is one good thing about all this, this car; the love of my life.

And then there was my room mate's car . . . a 1985 rusted up old love bug. Not really attractive, especially next to mine. I've tried many times to convince him to get a better car but he never listens. He says money needs to be spent wisely, like on boring old school junk.

So blah, blah whatever. Now I'm driving my awesome car to a nerd filled school. _Good bye Rod Lifferjingle, see you in the after life_. I pumped on Alternative Rock trying to block out everything. We rounded a corner and parked outside the building.

"Here we go," I said, shutting the car door.

"I'm so exited." Nicky said doing a really stupid dance. I snorted. Then spit on the ground.

"This is so gay," I spat. But that's when I saw something catch my eye, something I had never paid attention too, something… that might possible change my life forever, a girl. She walked by talking to some other chick. Oooh she smelled like perfume at the beauty store. _Mmmm, strawberries_ "Maybe this won't be so bad after all."

"What do you mean Rod? You were blowin' off steam ten minutes ago." Nicky said, raising half his lip.

"Dude, check it out."

"What. Check what. Did I miss something?" He said looking around like a confused squirrel.

"Heck yeah you did. She just walked by."

"What that girl with shoulder length hair?"

"Yeah, the one now crossing the street."

"The red head?! Are you serious?" Nicky said on the edge of laughter.

"Yes, who else," I said looking between him and the girl.

"Heh! I think you're mentally corrupted," He said doing the lip thing again.

"Dude shut up she's looking our way. Turn your head," I said. He was still looking at her and had a half smile on his face. I grabbed it and forced it in the opposite direction. "Is she gone?"

"I think so," Nicky said sounding like he was plugging his nose. I dared a look and saw that she was gone.

"Phew, that was close," I said, as we made our way to the front doors. We walked inside, signed up, got the highest dorm, and went up to our room.

We put our things away. The room had one bathroom up in the top left corner, two beds on the other side; there was a bed in each corner and a fairly large dresser between them, big enough for two people to put their clothes in. There was a small TV straight across from the door, lying on a desk.

"Sort of dull don't you think?" Nicky said.

"Huh, Just a little bit," I said, drooping my eyes and peering around. "No chairs. That's retarded. Got all your junk in the drawers?"

"Yeah, what about you?" asked Nicky.

"Duh, why would I have asked if I didn't?" I said.

We walked down to the cafeteria to see if they had any food worth eating. The place stank of moldy cheese and Nicky's old under wear. _Why did we have to come here? _Nicky immediately went to the snack bar. I looked over at the food stand unconfidently. I wasn't even sure if just anybody could come down here and eat.

"Can I help you with something?" the girl at the counter asked.

"No, I'm fine thank you," I said walking past her; I went over to where Nicky was. He was ordering all kinds of sweets and snacks.

"I want some jelly beans and some of those pink things and some sour gummy bears and some skittles and a soda pop and some war hea—"

"Hey Nicky, our budget!" I said grabbing his shoulder and leading him away. "Cancel all that," I said over my shoulder.

We went back up to our room and grabbed his ball. I threw it to Nicky, who was standing at the bottom of the stairs. Nicky seemed to like the sport. He was fairly good to, never enough to join the football team, but good none the less.

We rounded the corner to the college doors and went down to the park across the street. I threw the ball to him and he threw back, which went on for a while; back and forth and back and forth, over and over and over again. I was getting bored. Out of the corner of my eye there was a flash of blue light. Fast as lightning I swung my head in that direction only able to see a man falling from what looked like the roof of a house. A piercing scream split the air.

"Wow did you see that," Nicky asked. I nodded. There was some old woman beside him crying. The man looked older, maybe mid-sixties. "He just fell from the sky."

"No I'm pretty sure that was from the roof," I said. "Let's go check it out"

"Well I'm pretty sure something dropped from further up," Nicky was looking around in the sky now. "It looked blue."

"Yeah whatever, the whole dag nabbed atmosphere is blue. Okay now come on," I said looking over my shoulder. The man was now glowing indigo. _Wait he got up. He's walking over to me. _I could see him better now; he had a slight mustache and short white hair. The weird man was now right in front of me looking straight into my eyes. His voice seemed to echo inside my head. It had an extra-terrestrial feel to it.

"Run. The swarm is coming. Death is here. We're all going to die. They are . . . are . . . the . . . ze—" The old man's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he stopped glowing. Falling to the ground, the man went limp. People were brimming all over the place now. I backed away. In all the commotion I had gotten separated from Nicky. Police men were pushing through the crowd, yelling for everyone to back up.

Next thing I know, I'm being put into a police car and taken to be questioned. I didn't have any handcuffs or anything but I was still in a police car and felt a little nervous. The officer was trying to tell me "everything was going to be alright" and that "I wasn't in trouble". I had a hard time believing him. The same words echoed in my head. _Death is here, we're all going to die. . . ._

* * *

**EDIT: Hey! Whats up everyone. This is just another revision I did. (This Chapter still needs a lot of work). I have recently been going back and fixing chapters I have written a long time ago, and have realized how bad I used to wright. I am basically asking you to have patience with me, because the story gets loads better later.  
**

**I can't say exactly when it gets better... but trust me. IT DOES! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Rod's POV**

"You need to tell us exactly what happened," The police man said. We were in a small room with a table in the center and a chair on either side.

"I've told you a million times. All I saw was a flash of blue light and the man hitting the ground. That's all." I said, rolling my hand into a fist, and clenching my teeth. They had been asking the same question over and over, in different ways.

"What did he say to you?"

"He said that death is here and we're all going to die. He must have smashed his head pretty hard." I said. Not truly considering it. There was a window to the left of us which two other people were standing at, looking in on us. "May I leave now?"

The policeman sighed. "Very well."

He got up and showed me to the door. I went out to the elevator, to which we came in, and pressed the first floor button. The door opened and I went straight to the exit sign. I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Passing a desk with some old dude standing behind it, I tripped on a recycling bin and fell face first into the throw rug. What a total retard. I stood up, looked at the old man, smiled and went on my way. His astonished eyes burned into my back.

_Great, how the crap am I going to get home. Ugh!_ Kicking a rock made it go spiraling down the walk way. _I hate myself!_ _Blast, where's a phone when you need it._ I stopped at the corner of a street as a car went blowing passed. Suddenly an idea sprung to my mind.

"I got it," I said.

Another car came whizzing down the asphalt. I jumped in the way and yelled "Stop."

The car came to a screeching stop.

"What the crap!" came a voice from the car.

"I need a ride," I said, which I regretted saying moments later. A very big fat guy, with a spiked leather jacket, a sash and saggy pants suddenly came out of the car with a gun. Oh dear. I thought

"Get out of my way," he said pointing the gun at me. Not even a second later I took off running as fast as I could. He was cussing and shouting things I couldn't hear.

I finally stopped after a couple blocks panting. _Great where am I now._ Anger, fear, and sadness surged through my head. I started heading in what I thought was the right direction. There were many turns, intersections, and other unfamiliar houses. Nothing was identifiable.

But there was one thing that I _did_ recognize, a local phone! Yes! I thought. _Finally._ I ran up to the phone booth, excitement flooding through me. I picked it up and immediately dialed Nicky's cell phone. Nothing.

"Oh no," I said, slamming my head against the glass, I forgot I needed money. I left my wallet at the university. "Ugh."

"Need some help?" someone asked. I jumped, and swung around. My heart skipped a beat. I began to sweat. It was the red head.

"Ah, well I'm doing fine," I said trying to sound manly and cool. "What about yourself?"

"Oh me, my house is just around the corner," She said smiling, "Well, I better go."

"No wait. What's your name? Mine's Rod."

"Kenya. Oh and here's fifty cents for the phone. See yah at the university."

"Bye," I said in stunned silence.

I called Nicky and he came and picked me up. So now we are back at the school in our room.

"Ya know Nicky. We should get an apartment instead of having to sleep in the dorm," I said chewing a piece of bread.

"It's about time you started thinking about using our money properly." Nicky said reading a book.

"Hey, wait a second, you were the one about to buy a room full of candy."

"That was once Rod. Not like you who goes out and buys worthless video games and perfume."

"It's cologne, smart one." I said throwing a piece of bread at him. "What do you think about this old guy falling from the sky?"

"I don't know Rod. I mean think about the possibility of it being a coincidence."

"Not very likely," I said, putting the empty plate on the ground and lying back on the bed, "When does a guy just appear out of no where and say that some swarm is coming to kill everyone. That's not everyday something like that happens."

We sat for a moment in silence staring at the ceiling. I looked out the window and realized how dark it was. It was nine o'clock according to the clock across from me. So we watched a couple movies that we brought with us and when we were done it was around one o'clock in the morning.

"Good night, Nicky," I said, getting into bed in my clothes.

"Night Rod."

**Precisely the next morning**

_Beep beep, beep beep._

"Ugh," I groaned pushing the alarm button.

"Get up Rod. If we don't get down to the cafeteria in time there won't be any food left." Nicky said as he put on his shoes.

"I don't see why we have to live in this place when school hasn't even started yet." I said getting up. "I mean we still have another week to go."

"Oh stop complaining Rod. It isn't that bad. I know an apartment would be better but—" Rod shut the bathroom door blocking out Nicky's last words. "And maybe if you would get a _JOB!_

"Ugh," I moaned, "Another day of torture."

I threw some water on my face and grabbed my tooth brush. I began to let my mind wonder. I had gotten fired from my last job, a couple months ago, because I had constantly argued with my boss. And now on every single stupid application I had to put why I had been fired. It drove me crazy!

It didn't take long to finish brushing my teeth. I turned on the water to the shower expecting warm water. I felt an unexpected rush of freezing liquid scorch my back. I let out a howl and lunged out of the shower.

"Aaah!" I screamed. The water was freezing! Anger flashed in my mind. "Stupid school water"

There was a bang on the door.

"Hey Rod I'll go grab us some food, okay," Nicky said.

"Yeah, thanks, Nicky," I said as I turned off the faucet. _I'll just skip the showe_r. I thought. I grabbed a towel and dried myself off. The towel had a rough texture to it, which aggravated me. I put the cloth around my waist. Then out of nowhere the lights flickered and went out. At first I thought _Oh great, naked and there's a power surge_. But it didn't look like there was a storm outside. _Oh well. It is probably some janitor jacking with the electricity in the school_. Leaving the bathroom I started looking for the dresser. Feeling around the room was actually kind of creepy. Being alone and all. I finally found the dumb thing and pulled out some shorts, underwear, and a T-shirt.

While I was putting on the undershorts I heard a low growl. It was sort of like a dinosaur from Jurassic Park. _Is that the TV?_ _No it can't be, the power is off._ Fear seemed to strike my soul. Looking around I was able to see some figure in the darkness. My heart began to pound. If only there was more light from the sun. _Wait a second_. _There should be more light. Were there clouds outside? _

Another growl interrupted my thoughts. Then a roar split the air. I dropped my shirt and shorts, a chill went up my spine and I my body shook uncontrollably.

"Gaah!" I screamed. A thrashing pain hit my arm. I screamed again, the agony was excruciating. I lunged for what I thought was the door, and luckily it was. I yanked it open and hurtled down the stairs. There were signs of pursuit. I could here slithering behind me. A blood thirsty shriek of Death rippled through the air as I stumbled on the last step. Falling face first on the ground, I rolled up and took off down a hall, still just in my underwear, I swerved around a right corner. My eyes slowly adjusted to the dark.

I slammed into a door and thrust it open. I barreled down the stairs as fast as I could. A roar of rage hung in the air. I had to slow down because there were no light and I couldn't see at all. Ready for the next door I smashed into it and the thick piece of wood crashed open.

"Nicky!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.

Something grabbed me and pulled me a side. I seemed to have been thrown into a closet because I was pressed up against someone or something. On the other side of me I felt the door. _Please don't be a girl._ A light beamed through the darkness and low behold, it was that nerd I saw at the cafeteria.

"Sorry," she whispered. She reeked gold fish.

"Gold fish. Really?" I asked. I couldn't stand this anymore. I was in my underwear next to a crazy girl. I'd rather be eaten by the monster. I twisted the door knob.

"No don't, you'll get us killed!" She half whispered. _Too late_. The door shoved open.

_Ah man, does that feel good_, I thought, studying the situation around me. _I was sprawled out on the floor; the girl had fallen beside me, and no scary monster in sight._ _Good. Now the only real thing I wanted to do right then was get some clothes on_.

Getting up I ran down the short hallway, opened the door to the first set of stairs, went up them, rounded the corner, flew up the next flight off stairs, down another hall until I got to my room. I slid my room card down the slot and plunged inside. There was my shirt and shorts sitting on the ground, next to the dresser. As I walked over to them I noticed blood running down my arm, then I remembered the pain that had I had felt earlier. Now that I remembered it, stinging was surging through my arm. I started wailing like a baby. It was light enough to inspect what was causing me this discomfort. A thorn about half a foot was sticking out my arm. The place it came in contact to the skin was dark red and blood was still oozing out everywhere; along with some light green oozy stuff. The pain came in waves. From what I learned in boy scouts, I knew that it was poisonous.

All I wanted to do was yank it out, but if I so much as touched the stupid thing it ached. Tears welled up in my eyes and started poring down my face. I was able to get my shorts on with one hand but left my shirt off. The stench of blood was almost unbearable. I went to the sink in the bathroom and ran water on it. The non hardened blood rippled away. The wound hurt if I put any water on it. I knew I had to get that thorn off or the venom would spread faster. So I grabbed the thorn and yanked. Screaming the whole time, it finally slid out.

Again the pain ached, and all I could do was tie a cloth around my arm to try to stop the bleeding. I then heard the door open and knew it was Nicky. Thank heavens he was alright.

"Rod? You in here?" Nicky's voice asked.

"Nicky call 911," I said as he entered the bathroom.

"Oh," He said and hurriedly left. I heard his phone beep the three numbers. Looking through the cupboards and drawers I couldn't find any bandages; only toilet paper. That's all I could use, so I wrapped it around the cloth, hopping that it would help.

"Yes, if you could send an ambulance now that would be great. Yes, Charles Canyon University. Thank you." Nicky said and hung up. "Rod an ambulance is coming along with a couple police officers. I'm guessing we'll all be questioned… huh... again."

"Yay, I'm so excited." I moaned. _I hate being interviewed_. "You know what, screw it. Let's just drive over to the hospital instead."

"Too late," Nicky said looking out the window. "Their cars are here, which means there should be a knock at the door, right about-."

Clonk, clonk, clonk.

Nicky went and opened the door. I could hear the paramedics run to the bathroom where I waited. _Cool, Nicky must have told them it was urgent, because they brought their stuff with them._ They took me out to the ambulance and started working. Giving me a shot that would make me fall asleep. Just a moment before I dozed off I thought _what of our budget?_

Moments later I woke up in the back of the ambulance. We were moving so I guessed that we were heading to the hospital. One of the paramedics must have noticed I woke up because he looked at me and started talking.

"Oh, you're awake. We are taking you to the hospital to check and make sure all the venom is out of your system." The man said.

"The thing that poisoned me, what was it?" I asked feeling a little drowsy. He hesitated before answering, when another paramedic nodded.

"We do not know. The object will be handed over to the police who will most likely give it to the scientists to be studied." He said.

"How much money are you taking out of my account?"

"Insurance will cover it."

"Phew. That scared me for a second."

We parked in the hospital parking lot, and I was taken into a room.

The nurse took my temperature, checked my heart rate and my pulse, and then said. "Wait one moment here and I will get the doctor."

_Well why wasn't he with us anyways?_ _This is absurd._ The thing she checked my heart rate with, was on the wall. I grabbed the squishy part and started squeezing it. _Ha this is fun_. My arm started hurting and I let go. I waited for what seamed like an hour, until the doctor finally came in. He kind of looked like some actor I had seen on a comedy. I held in a laugh and made sort of a puffing noise. The doctor looked at me funny.

"We're going to do some tests and scans on your arm. Then we will take you back to the school. It should only take about a half an hour, unless there is still more of that strange poison in your arm," He said looking through some papers. When he finally stopped he took me to a room about the size of a gymnasium. I laid my arm across a surface to which a big machine was towering over. The device scanned a long red light across my arm.

After that we went into another room and I put my arm into a hole in the wall which barely fit my arm. A couple flashes came from the hole. They then took me to a waiting room. After a couple of minutes, a nurse came in and took me to a computer residence. A picture was displayed on the computer. It showed an arm muscle with a brown growth on it. The picture was gross. The growth had tentacle things coming out of it. The thing was wavering back and forth.

"What is that?" I asked. The doctor and three nurses turned to me with concerned looks on their faces.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Derk's POV**

My name is Derk Treeton or also known as unit QI9872X. I am a ghost, the stealthiest of all the terran. I must be the most accurate, the best trained, the fastest, the swiftest, the bravest, the most dangerous, the most feared, the strongest, _the_ best . . . and I am going on the easiest mission ever imaginable.

I am to go to this planet called _Urthe_ with my friend and a marine squadron, for backup, to stop a zerg invasion before it even happens. Boring! I _should _be sent to fight on the front lines of _Nartes _instead, or perhaps _Jinxsole_.

"Hey, you ghosts ready? We're approaching land." Jenny said. She flew the banshee we were in and was our only flight out. The banshee looked like a helicopter with two propellers on the sides. It also had a cool cloaking device, kind of like our ghosts' cloaking. We normally rode in the Medivacs, which was the main terran land transport vessel, but being ghosts we get kinda lucky. I prefer banshees over Medivacs anytime. Evan the gigantic Hercules ships aren't as fun.

"Better ask her out, soon man. That Ben guy is startin' to hit on her, runnin' out of time." Tenny Yankprel, my best friend, said. Everyone in all of history knew that I had a crush on Jenny. It all started when I was first training as a ghost. Ben Richterson was a big muscular popular guy who operated a Thor, such a show off. It makes me real mad some times.

"Shut up Tenny. That's not any of your business." I said angrily as I swatted my hand over his head.

"Well it will be when I marry your sister." He said nudging me. "She really does have a talent of being a massage therapist."

"She is not. She's a medic!"

"Oh but it feels better then that. Remember when I got that cut from the spine crawler. It put a big gash on my back. I didn't think that neck could stretch that far."

"Well duh, they can stretch up to about thirty feet."

"None was worse than when Todd got nagged by the infester and—"

"Come on guys, hurry and get out! We don't have all day." Jenny said. I didn't notice we had stopped about ten feet above the ground, and the door was open. "We don't want to attract any attention."

Tenny went first and then I fallowed. Jenny flew the cloaked banshee away. I took a look around at my surroundings. There was a fairly big hill in front of us which seemed to be a path for a highway. We appeared to be in a grassland type of biome. Cars drove on by.

"Let's not cloak until we get closer to the road. We don't want to waist energy that we don't have time to regenerate. Hey we might not even have to cloak at all." Tenny said starting to walk toward a road that swung around the hill. There were continuous hills going in the right direction.

"Let's get this over with," I said following him. I liked our suits over any other I had worn. We wore tight black leather covered in orange rimmed platting, to protect us from anything. Our suits along with our psychic minds gave us many abilities. We could manipulate the matter around us so we could cloak without our uniforms were simply there to give us more energy and keep us invisible for longer. We were able to fire EMPs, disabling any kind of shields, which these species of Terrans didn't seem to have, and will easily reduce energy to zero. EMPs are very good against Protoss, because they're quite advanced in the leanings of psi. I like to call them _Easily Massacres Protoss_.

"Heh, what is the point of saving a planet so far behind in technology. These people don't even have hover vehicles yet." I said laughing, as we approached the highway.

"Oh please Derk, why ask what you already know. We can't let the Zerg continue to expand their brood. If we let them consume easily targeted planets, they will over whelm us easily."

"Huh, I know. I just don't know why we are wasting time here. Why send us more highly trained ghosts when they could have sent a handful of marines."

"I don't know. Let's just get this done and be over with it. So let's go get a ride."

"Wait we can't just wave our hands and hitch hike. By what our boss, General Plank, said these people here aren't familiar with people off their planet.

"You're right," Tenny cloaked so I physically turned my vision on my mask to activate a radar to detect friendly ghosts. He was holding up his big sniper gun and pointing at an approaching car. I cloaked to and then said—"

"Wait! Stop Plank said not to kil-" I said as a sniping pew went off, then a loud popping sound followed. Phew he shot the tire. The car slowed and then stopped in front of us. A fairly large man in a white shirt stepped out of the car, and looked around.

I could see the outline of Tenny sprint to the car. I caught on pretty fast. Knowing what he was doing I couldn't help but smile. We were jacking his car.

We yanked open the doors and jumped in. Immediately I pushed on the gas.

"Whoo!" I yelled, "So long sucker!"

"Yeah!" Tenny shouted.

"Score one for the ghosts, zero for the zerg."

"They better watch out, cause here we come."

"Hey do you have any music synched to your transmition?" I asked uncloaking, as did Tenny.

"Heck yeah I do." Tenny said, unhooking a rectangular device from his side plate. He threw it at me. I quickly waved my hand over the top of it. A hologram flared on. It showed a medic with a cowboy hat on and began to play country type of song. I rolled my eyes at the old type of music. Moving my hand across the hologram, it changed the song to a more techno beat, with a dancing elf. I smiled. I started to beat on the steering wheel.

"Ha that's more like it," I said, Tenny raised his hands in the air and did raise the roof. We were all rocking out and everything, having the music blast through the speakers of the car, but then I heard a whimper come from the back of the car. _Oh no_. I pushed my hand down on the device making the dancing elf disappear inside. The music stopped.

"Hey why'd yah do that?"

"The car came with a coupon for trouble."

"Huh?" Tenny said.

"Check the back" I said as we rounded the last of the mountain approach a town.

"Oh no!" Tenny said looking at me. "We got a pair of hitch hikers."

"I know," I growled turning my head to look at the small children in the back, still keeping an eye on the road. "Hey, you two better not give us any garbage or I will rip your throats out."

"Derk! That's not going to help!" Tenny snapped. "Hey kids. We are here to drop you off at your house. Where do you live?"

The moment Tenny let that out of his mouth the girl that looked about seven screamed at the top of her lungs. The little boy, about four, started to cry. I tried to think of what to do but then Tenny grabbed his transmission from me and turned on that stupid country song and started singing. His voice made me cringe. Tenny was not born to sing. I remained silent. The girl stopped screaming and smiled. The music helped intensify the moment.

After the song was over we asked them where they lived, again. They told us to round a corner up ahead. We had entered the town about five minutes ago so when Tenny was singing I drove around aimlessly. As we turned the corner the girl pointed to a house. We parked next to it and they went inside.

"This flat tire is bugging me. We can't go faster than five miles an hour. Let's just park it here." I said pulling up on the drive way, irritated at our circumstance. We got out and started walking down the street. "So where the crap do we go."

"Well this thing says—" He started to say but the young girls voice interrupted.

"See, Mommy! The people in the Halloween costumes. Invite them in for dinner. Invite 'em."

We stopped dead. Tenny looked at me and I looked back at him. I cussed.

"Excuse me." The women said. She approached us as we turned around. "Sorry me but did you steal our car?"

"Yes they did and it was awesome," the little girl said

"Hush, Alexandria. I'm calling the police."

"I'm sure the fat guy already has," Tenny said folding his arms. The women opened her mouth to say something but I interrupted her.

"Maybe another time," I said as I pointed a sterilizer out of my back pouch and shot her in the face. She fell back, having a quick seizure and then going limp.

"Derk! Was that necessary?!" Tenny yelled, as the girl screamed. "And where did you get that?!"

"Eh, I picked it up from some drunken guy at the bar, outside of sector Hex." I said looking down at the gun like stunning device. The girl's screams continued. Tenny quickly turned to her.

"It's okay little girl! Your mother is fine." Tenny said trying to calm her.

"Oh come on that's not going to calm her." I said, firing the stunning gun at her. She quickly vibrated and then fell paralyzed. Like her mother.

"Derk! If you don't stop shooting everyone you see, I will most certainly tell Mr. Plank!"

"Eh, let's just go." I said. cloaking "The faster we get this done the faster we can leave."

Police cars started rounding the corner. The fat guy was in one of them. So we continued on our way.

We followed the pinging indicator inside of our masks which led us to a school where "the hydralisk attack" happened. There were police men swarming all over. (Just like the zerg). We uncloaked and approached a police man.

"Excuse me sir, we're here to investigate the hydralisk appearance and need all your men to withdraw from the area. We do not want anyone getting infested because obviously your men are not equipped with the right shielding equipment to prevent being infested to the zerg swarm. An evacuation is indeed necessary." I said, putting my hands behind my back.

The man burst out laughing. "Oh really. Are you going to make us, Halloween boy?"

"We usually get our way," Tenny said "Now we were talking about an evacuation."

"No, you were. I have at least thirty men here and you expect me to evacuate. I think not."

"Now we don't want to get physical, but if you do not move your men, we will." I said

"Alright that's enough. Hey you three over there. Escort them out of here. Now." The police man said to a couple of other officers.

"Alright have it your way." Tenny said. We cloaked and shoved our way up to the front doors. We rammed through the two guards at the school doors and went inside. We could here the police man yelling orders, something about us entering without authorization.

"Alright let's call Jenny and have her bring the marines so they can take care of all these guys. By the looks of their weapons it looks like they will be useless verses their armor. We need to find that hydralisk." I said as we walked down the stairs into what looked like some kind of old fashion furnace room.

I walked in and looked around. Leaving Tenny at the doorway to call Jenny, I flipped on the light to my sniper gun. It beamed through the darkness. There was a power box on the side of the wall about five yards away from the door. I pulled the door open. There was a red lever, which was facing down, and a bunch of buttons. I repeatedly pushed the lever up and down . . . nothing. I pushed a couple buttons just for the heck of it but again nothing happened.

What a horrible way for operating electricity. And here I was thinking that we needed to update our expertise. _Enough of this_. There weren't many places to hide so it should be easy to find the hydralisk. I shined the light all around the room. Zilch. So I walked toward a round support for the building. There were about five of them that spread across the room, and a boiler in the back. I knew it was here somewhere, just waiting to strike. Like a snake, which is pretty much what it was. Except that it had a huge long trapezoid like head and to long arms extending from its shoulders. A flat out nightmare.

I approached the pillar readying my weapon. The twelve foot monster raged out from behind the support and raked its foot long claws across my chest. It bit down on my shoulder and grazed its blade claw across my back. Immense surges of pain, whelped through my entire body. The hydralisk hurdled me across the room. Tenny quickly looked up in astonishment as I fell in front of him moaning in pain.

I had lost my gun when he tossed me across the room. Tenny cloaked and through my mask, I could see him throw a reaper bomb that spread out others around it. Tenny lifted me up and took off out the door. An exploding blast rang through the air as I saw pieces of organs, intestines and other bits of zerg barrel through the door. It covered me and Tenny, even though we were half way up the stairs.

It was a good thing that we had our suits on. For if we didn't we would become infested and become Zerg in a day or two. All I could do was pray that no part of that zerg got on my skin where I was slashed by the hydralisk.

"Are you okay?" Tenny asked, he was not cloaked, entailing that he wanted to conserve energy. "I'm okay. Did you ask Jenny to bring a couple medics?" I asked while he put me on the ground.

"No but she's smart; probably will bring some anyway."

"They won't all fit in the banshee so they will obviously bring a transport ship.

"Duh," Tenny said. "This will really tick the Zerg off, so we'd better get some SCVs down here to build us some bunkers to secure the area. A barracks would help as well. Not so much a Command Center, because I don't see any minerals to mine anywhere."

"Well, now remember, we can collect other mass, and convert them into a substance that we could use as minerals." I reminded Tenny. "They won't be worth as much as pure minerals would be."

"Eh, I still think we can go off our funds from nearby planets." Tenny said. "Even though we will receive a short delay on everything we make."

"True," I said.

We had just begun to walk out the door when we realized we weren't cloaked. I gave a side glance to Tenny as all the police men, surrounded us.

"Put your hands in the air and no one will get hurt." One of the men said holding up his gun.

"How much energy does your suit have?" I mumbled to him.

"Not much. I could probably go for ten seconds if the energy goes by two percent of energy every second. So there for, I have precisely twenty percent energy."

"Hey stop talking!" one yelled. "Hands in the air! And no funny business. We're trained professionals."

"Mine's about the same." I said to Tenny. "On three. One . . . two—"

But that's when the police men tackled us. I was able to punch one off but another jumped on.

"Did you call for back up" I asked Tenny. But another booming voice cracked through the air.

"He sure did." I knew who it was right off the bat. It was Ben Richterson. Right then I really wished that I was killed by the Hydralisk. The gigantic machine flopped the men off us with its humongous tank like arm, guns. Good thing we were outside or he would have taken apart the school with us inside. "Heard you ghosts needed some help. We came as fast as we could."

Ben was sitting up in the tinny little window up at the top of the Thor. I could almost see him smirk. Pretty much saying: What a bad impression, Jenny's mine.

I knew that behind my mask that I was turning red, half way between anger and embarrassment.

All the police men stared in astonishment. They stepped a few steps back and a couple just flat out fainted, but I also noticed that it wasn't just Ben, there was a whole army behind him, Marines, Marauders, Siege tanks, Vikings gliding in the air, Vultures cruising around, a couple other thors, fire bats, even SCV's building bunkers, missile turrets, and a detector tower.

"Oh man there had better not be any changelings here. By the end of today they would have every bit of information needed to wipe us out. Those SCV's better darn well hurry. Anyways what'd you tell them?" I asked Tenny, raising an eyebrow.

"Well I simply told them that we would like to set up a camp in case any more Zerg are running around. I also said that it would be better scaring them off. If we can show them we're not an easy target, the critters will run like cowards. I guess I seamed to persuade our boss." Tenny said, shrugging and then walking up to the frightened policemen to explain as Jenny's banshee landed.

"Well that was a mouthful," I said, walking up to the banshee.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Rod's POV**

"I asked you guys what that is!" I said raising my voice. Panic started to well up inside of me.

"We don't know. Can you please lower your voice?" The Doctor asked franticly. "We're trying as hard as we can. It might just be a close up on some bacteria."

"What! That has to be some big bacteria. I can see just as well as you can the outline of my _bone_." I sat up in my chair and starred wide eyed at the tentacle thing in my arm. "It's getting bigger!" I said in a really high squeaky voice.

"Shut up and let us work!" One of the nurses shouted.

"We're going to have amputate your arm off to stop the spreading." Another said.

"You will not!" I said taking my eyes off the screen and looking at the doctor. "I'll sue you!"

Out of no where a crash rippled through the air. I let out a little girl shriek.

"What was that?" I asked looking around.

"I don't know. Will you please be quiet?" The doctor said. "Alright it was probably just a crate falling over or something."

"I want out now!" I said panicking. _Stay calm, Rod stay calm. I know- I will make a break for the door._ _If they don't even know what the weird algae stuff is then what's the point of staying here. But where will I go . . . I know. I will go and ask the policemen! They know everything._ While the Doctors were arguing I raced for the door.

"Hey kid. Wait. Stop!" One of the docs said. There was another bang and then a load roar.

"Oh shiz!" I moaned

A giant monster that looked like the outline I saw at the school came exploding through the wall. Then it did the scariest thing ever…. It spoke.

"Stop where you stand!" It screeched. The voice was raspy and like fingernails on a chalk board. "You've been infested. Your one of us now." It cackled

"Not yet he ain't!" A voice came from down the hall. The monster looked back at him. The guy was in a big orange metal suit and had huge metallic shoulders. Almost like a football outfit. A flame thrower was attached to the end of his arm. I decided that he was on my side, maybe a certain kind of police man. I took off toward him. I heard the monster pursuing me. The moment I passed the big orange metal man he fired his flamethrowers at the giant snake like monster. It let out a horrifying screech and was now burning to a crisp.

"That there was a hydralisk," He said. In a deep scorched voice. "Hurry we have to now get back to our temporary base. They are after you because you have been infested; don't worry though we'll take care of that." He grabbed my arm and took off down the hall.

"Where is the base? Who are you? Where did that thing come from?" I asked as he pulled me right through the wall. I then just plopped all the questions in my head out. "Hey how'd you do that? You just crashed right through the wall. What's going on?"

"Shut it kid. All your questions will be answered when we get back to base. Before you ask, it's at some school." The orange metal man said. We crashed through another wall and fell to the ground, then sprung up and kept on sprinting. There was a load growling that came out of no where.

"What was that?" I asked

"Crap! Zerglings are speeding toward us as we speak." Orange man said.

"What are those?" I asked again.

"They are really fast little varmints that tare a couple of stray wonderers up into a few pieces of bird food!" He said losing patients. "I could take on a ten or twelve, but not as many that are hurtling toward us."

"Were going to die," I wined.  
"Oh please how old are you, five? Suck it up and help me think of a plan."

"Ok how 'bout if we get some poor soul lying on the ground and feed him to them as we slip away. They will be to busy eating that guy to notice us. I like it." I said smiling. I knew the answer though, he would laugh and say that there was no one around.

Orange man burst into a bundle of laughs. "Yeah okay do you see any one around?" He said. "Stupid teenager, think serious."

The noises were getting louder. The ground was starting to rumble.

"Okay now . . . Ugh! I can't think of anything." He started to slow down and then began coughing. "Man running out of breath. Quick, hide behind that green garbage can."

I obeyed. He suddenly fell down next to me.

"Okay I'm calling for back up. We might be able to hide here before they find us. You need to be extremely careful, sense you have been infested; they can track you easily. By the way what's your name?" Orange man asked.

"Uh . . . Rod Lifferjingle. Yours?" I asked

"Jackson Mapple."

"Wait . . . you don't think my name is funny? Everyone laughs at it."

"Really? Your name is quite normal to what I've heard."

"Oh, Well-."

"Shh! Zerglings. Just around the corner." Jackson hissed "Get ready to run." He pulled out some kind of bomb. It was round and had a big smiley face on it. Suddenly he pressed the smiley face and threw it behind him. There was a yelping roar and then a ka-boom! "GO!"

I took off running like never ran before. Apparently I was to slow for Jackson because he lifted me from the ground and took off sprinting at full speed. We cut around a corner at the top of the street and ran straight down it. I could see the school on the left side of the lane. But there were a bunch of other buildings around it and one blocking the street.

"That there is a bunker" Jackson said. It was curved at the top and big enough to fit about three of Jacksons in it. There were four right triangular metal support pieces coming out on all sides, one right in front of it, two on the sides as well as one in the back. I guess its all about the angle you look at it. The bunker also had four square holes above the triangles. I guess for shooting out of them. There were several others around the base. Like some blocking off streets. Different kinds of machines and people in armor were running around.

"Uh can I ask questions now?" I asked as he put me down to the side of the bunker. One building was just a big square with an entrance. It was more detailed like it had slits in it with lights blaring out. I then just realized that it should be around three o'clock.

"After we give you a tour of the base. You will be living here for a while, whether you like it or not. You are now a part of this whole situation. Welcome to the orange terran Rod Lifferjingle." Jackson said as a couple of dudes in white armor came walking up to me. They had giant shields that were orange and had a big hospital sign on them. They had a golden glass thing covering there face. The armor looked similar to Jacksons, except smaller and no awesome flamethrower hooked to the arm.

They had little hand held GPS like things in their hands. One started talking.

"So this is the little runt who got infested," I could tell it was a girl voice. The rudeness in her tone shocked me. I didn't expect a crude comment. "I'm just kidding kid."

A green beam came from the GPS thing and my arm started to feel better and wound closed up. I starred in shocked silence. Then out of no where she pulled out a big, and I mean big, fat needle; and shoved it in my shoulder.

"GAHH!" I yelled in agony.

"What you never seen a healing laser before? Pff, or a cure needle" The other one laughed in a sort of sarcastic tone. Also a girl. "Okay you're ready to see the boss. He actually came here! Can you believe it?"

"Aw, ow." I mumbled. "Uck, what's so big about the boss being here anyway? I mean where would he be. On Jupiter? Heh heh . . . heh." I stopped laughing when I saw how they weren't making the slightest sort of movement to show that it was funny. "Oookay . . ."

"Come on Rod, let's go" Jackson said as he pulled me along.

"So are we doing the tour first or meeting your boss?" I asked when Jackson let me walk on my own.

"The boss of course." Jackson said. We approached a building that was like the rectangular structure except was a square and had supports like the bunker on each corner. There was a line going across the building with light coming out of it. It was on the grass in front of the parking lot. "This is the Barracks. It's where we train and make armor for marines, marauders, reapers, medics, fire bats like me, and we make suits for ghosts. They get trained in the ghost academy. You have to be real good to make that class."

"Oh. Okay." I said as we entered the Barracks. As we walked in I saw machines making armor on one side of the barracks and on the other side people being trained, most of them in suits. There was one who had some sort of jet pack and a couple gas tanks hooked to him. The jet pack was flaring. He then started to rise slowly, but then he was flung into the air and slammed into the roof about twenty feet up. The jet pack dude was soaring through the air right toward them. Jackson lunged at him and hit the gas tank, or a button on the gas tank, which made the jet pack blow out and resulted in a crash to the floor. Poor jet pack dude slammed into the wall. Jackson helped him up.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah I'm still learning, just got pulled into this mess."

"Ah," Jackson said as he walked back to me. The two medics were already talking to some guy across the room. They walked back to us and said that the boss left the barracks and went into the Battle Cruiser.

"Battle what!?" I asked as they took me outside to where a ship was flying in the air. It almost looked like a hammerhead shark's head. It looked like there was a neck then the head of the hammerhead. The back went out like the head and was in the shape of a larger rectangle. Like something off of star wars or star trek. It wasn't as big as you'd first assume. Maybe as long as a football field and about three stories tall.

"Okay, looks like were going up there." Jackson said.

"Oh no, no, no just the newbie." The first medic said. "By the way my name is Teresa Treeton."

"Now wait a second! Jackson is to coming up with me. We were like born for this moment." I said putting my scrawny arm around his back or at least halfway across it.

"Ha, ha yeah funny. Just go with Teresa and you'll be fine. I'll answer all your questions after the tour when you get back, okay buddy." Jackson said patting my back, which almost pushed me over. "Unless of course we get an early attack from the Zerg."

"Yeah, sure," I replied drooping my shoulders.

"Look, don't worry. Boss is a fun guy . . . . really or at least to rookies anyway. Good luck." Jackson said walking away with a couple other fire bats.

"Okay, now all aboard the medivac." Teresa said "hey cheer up pall. Boss ain't gunna kill yeh. He's a good guy . . . On his good days."

I hired my head a bit to look her in the eyes. Fortunately her golden face mask was raised. She had red hair and blue eyes. Her hair came down to her neck, for what I could see. Wait the . . . the perfume. S-s-strawberries. And then at the worst moment possible, the climax of my life, the one part where I might have a bit of fun . . . I screamed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**Rod's POV**

"You! You tricked me! You acted so innocent. I, I, I Ahh I am never looking at another girl again!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.

"What the crap are you talking about?!" Teresa yelled back.

"Oh, no, no, don't you play stupid with me! I talked to you; you gave me money to use the phone, so I could call Nicky."

"I am sorry are you on drugs?" She asked. _UGH! How dare she say that to me! I swear if there weren't a bunch of big people with guns around I would have punched her_. _She acted as if she liked me and now she is some robo crazy medic girl_.

"Get on the ship now." She growled.

"Now don't you go changing the-." I started, but then she grabbed the back of my neck and through me in the medivac. Next thing I knew I was being shoved onto the giant Battlecruiser. It sucks because I didn't even get to see it up close, because I was put in a boring sweat smelly room with no windows. I hate medivacs and medics all together.

So now I am on an awesome ship that I get to wonder around and look for some door that says captains lounge on it. That is all the information I got from Miss Treeton also known as Miss _Backstabber_!

"Hey you!" A big heavy voice yelled, which sounded like all the other voices with helmets on, similar to master chief off of halo. "Are you the newbie?"

"Why does everyone call me that?!" I mumbled through gritted teeth as I turned around. There before my very eyes was another jet pack dude. "Oh, hey, uh-."

"Oh shut it and follow me." He led me to the captain's door. "Go on and open it. Huh, have fun." He walked off laughing. Okay now I was nervous.

As I opened the door I saw the back of a very large red chair in the middle of a very large room with about a fifteen foot sealing. There were buttons and computer screens all over the wall. Sort of like something off of star trek, again with the star trek. The chair slowly turned around to face me.

He had a gutty chin that stuck out and a patch of orange hair on his. _Must be dyed_. Throwing the napkin in a random direction, he put his skinny arm around me and took me to a chair, saying:

"Now why aren't you such a lovely young chap there aye." He laughed, and then went back to his supposedly normal voice; which was deep and very significant. "I'm joking. Anyways you must be the newbie I have been hearing about through all my many intercoms on my ship."

"Wait, hold on. Who were the ones telling you?" I asked as he plumped me down on the chair.

"Oh pretty much everyone who has noticed you. One would say "Oh by the way the kid is here" or "hey do you know that the newbie's here." Or something on the lines of that. Don't worry; your life won't be to incredibly offal, or at least not until the dreaded zerg arrive."

"Oh a quick question. Um . . . I heard someone mention I was . . . well . . . infested? It's really starting to get to me."

"Well I'm sure they have put some kind of needle in you to stop the infection, or you would see side effects right here soon. Oh by the way I would prefer you to call me by the fallowing:" Clears his throat. "Sir, Sir Plank, Mr. Plank, General Plank and Boss. Nothing else unless you're my friend, which you are not."

"Um, oka—"

"Shush, shush. Questions later. I do believe your name is Rod Lifferjingle. Don't say anything yet, I'm sure you have lots of questions which I will get to very soon, but for now I will supply you with information. Such as: you will have a choice to fight with us against the Zerg and occasional Protoss, but when your in you never leave till you die. And yes there are break times. You will be paid in minerals, which you can always switch out for your, uh, dollars. Now moving on. We will be traveling to different planets and fight off the Zerg so that they don't expand more than necessary as well as so that they don't over power us. Enough said.

"The Protoss, if you are wondering, are lots like your aliens, with no mouths and all. We get along very well with most of them, but the Protoss are very territorial. Now I am sure that you have a family and visiting them will fall into your break time. Also I am very well aware that you are probably very worried about your best friend Nicky Shurlton."

_Oh, my gosh! I haven't even thought about him!_.

"And by your expression and the covering of your mouth you have totally forgotten about him. Although he is being taken care of and is being given precisely the same information that I am giving you. Now I always seem to forget something, so by all means ask. It is now that time." Mr. Plank said gesturing outward with his arms.

"Well first off, uh . . . I don't know . . ." I said rubbing my head and looking at the ground.

"Speak or forever hold your peace." He mumbled looking at me with his chin up.

"Okay, okay. So yesterday, there was, gosh it's so stupid. There was a flash of light and some guy fell off of his house and went . . . well sort of . . . seiko. I mean, I could never forget those words. Um . . . Death is here . . . we're all going to die."

"What color was it?" Mr. Plank said, rubbing his head and turning away from me.

"It was blue."

"That is strange. I've never heard anything like it. I mean I guess it could be the blue protoss, but if it was just a light. . . ." He said trailing off. "What really confuses me is that some random guy goes crazy. Do you know if he was hit by it?" Mr. Plank turned back toward me.

"I don't know. I was turning when he fell. Aw, well it doesn't matter I have a more important question. Okay so there's this girl who I saw at the university that I was . . . huh . . . well attracted to in a . . . way. But anyways so later that day I needed the phone and she gave me some money so that I could call Nicky, but then I see her here in tha-."

Mr. Plank turned sharply around and said:

"Did the guy who went crazy . . . was he in that faze for just a moment, then gone. Possibly an eye color change, voice change . . . anything!"

"Uh, not that I could recall. I mean I didn't know the guy."

"Gahh! Blast! I can't help you if you didn't pay attention." He said throwing his arms in the air.

"Oh, well I'm sorr-."

"The thing is, is that I know some of the Zerg that can take over minds, they're called infesters, but if this was a flash of light, It would have had to be protoss. Maybe they have found a way to mind control? Ahh! This is very frustrating!" Mr. Plank started talking again changing the subject; putting his hands on his hips. "Okay so what did you say about some girl."

"I am saying that Teresa is denying that she gave me money and talked to me."

"Wait Teresa is the most honest person I know. That doesn't make sense." Then after a few minutes, which felt like a few hours, Mr. Plank's pupils went very diminutive and his eyebrows bumped to the top of his large head. "OH, BLAST!"

I was almost trampled while Mr. Plank rushed past me, yelling orders like crazy into a radio type of thing on his shoulder.

"I need every unit to report to bunker three immediately! All other orders have been canceled! All assigned missions or objectives will be reassigned with different ones momentarily in bunker three! I need someone to get ghost QI9872X and QI3345X to report there too, as well as the mission they have been assigned has been canceled! Someone get those ghosts NOW!" He yelled as the door came to a slow halt.

"Okay…" I said, sitting up on the floor. I slowly rose to my feet. I then heard sudden foot steps approaching the entrance at a fast pace. I quick dove behind a trash can in the corner of the room. The door flew open and there stood Jackson. I suddenly stood up and yelled "Jackson!"

"Oh there you are!" Jackson grabbed me and took off out the door. "We are going to have to scratch the tour. And you need to get off this ship now!"

We tumbled through the hall moving at a fast speed. We ran through many different corridors, until we came to a door. Jackson thrust it open and jumped out… along with me. The ship was about twenty yards from the ground so the fall wasn't as bad as I thought it was.

"Okay know hold on!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. There was a defining Ka boom that blasted through the air. I slowly turned around to see the Battlecruiser I was just on explode and fall to the Earth in a big smoldering ball of green rubbish.

"Don't let that stuff touch you!" Jackson yelled throwing me away from the ship and falling gasses. Another explosion ripped through the air as the reminiscence of the great ship blew into a million pieces. Jackson grabbed me and took off away from the falling ashes. Jackson finally came to a halt.

"Okay what just happened!? I asked.

"They're called banelings." Jackson said. "My guess is they had gotten in before we got a turret up. I think they ran into the Battlecruiser when we weren't looking and on the ground. The only thing I don't get is how we wouldn't have noticed."

"But how did you guys get me off and find out just in time?"

"Well for one thing, _you _were the one who gave Boss the idea. You talked about seeing Teresa somewhere. What you saw was a changeling. They can become duplicates of any living thing they see. Only real way you can tell is by asking them important information that they don't know or if they are by missile turrets."

"Oh. Oh dear me. So you are telling me that anyone here could be a changeling?" I asked scratching my head.

"Well not right here. We have looked on the missile turrets and there are no more." Jackson said leading me towards the outside of the bunkers where there were police men and it looked like the whole Army had gathered. Even helicopters hovering around. By the looks of it they could rip us to pieces because of quantity. But I immediately changed my mind when I saw three more of those Thor things being holed on three, what I believe are called, medivacs. Now our or I guess Jackson's, army began to gather. Yep, Jackson's army would _destroy_ the Army.

Now it looked like the Army was getting pretty anxious. Then as we're walking towards them out of the corner of my eye I saw some really cool looking high tech assassinators or something. They had orange leather suits that covered there whole bodies and had round black goggles with three green dots on one and one small red one in the middle of the other. They also each had one _gigantic_ sniper assassin gun. Big long red scope too. As well as a small round radio on the side of their heads with an antenna sticking upwards. Jackson saw my mouth hanging open and said:

"Those are called ghosts. They are the best of the terran. I am surprised we have one, let alone two of them, here, especially since there is a battle going on at _Jinxsole_, also on _Nartes _as a matter of fact." Jackson said prodding me towards the Army.

Looking back at the Army I took a big gulp. They were bringing in tanks and more helicopters. I really hoped that there wasn't going to be a battle because I wouldn't know which side to pick: my country I grew up in or the people who had saved me from being infested by the so called Zerg. I guess I would just run away and scream my head off. Apparently they had not run into any Zerg because the men didn't look very dirty or any other sign of them being in battle, but really, I could care less.

Mr. Plank was talking to the general of all our military people. I couldn't hear them over all the helicopters and other load noises, although I did hear our general cussing unbelievably.

By the looks of it Mr. Plank was completely calm. Which was crazy, because of all the stuff happening. The entire Army started turning around on the general's orders. Mr. Plank was walking up to us and said that he would go to one of the stupid meeting things, as he put it, and talk with the president about why the Orange Terran were here. In my opinion I think that it would have been _so_ much easier if we all could just get along and defeat this _Zerg_ thing and be done with it.

But the question still remained about the weird blue flashing light. I really wished right then that I could just go home and forget about this mess, but I would soon find out that my life will never be the same again.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**Rod's POV**

It was getting dark so the tour would resume tomorrow. All in all, I only really learned that the barracks were the big orange boxes and the factories were the rectangular structures. The supply depots were where we slept. I tried to get them to let me just go home and come back, but that wasn't acceptable. So here I am, sitting in a supply depot that holds eight people. Some have add-ons on the top where eight more can sleep. From the outside, they look pretty small, though they're not really.

I tried to get to sleep but I kept thinking the Zerg were coming to eat me. It sounded stupid, but I was actually really scared. I kept asking myself, _What if they got through the defenses? What if they burrowed right beneath me? What was happening to my family? _Right at that moment, I remembered Nicky. Where was he right now? I looked around and realized there were only about four people were in here. So there must be people out guarding the base. I began to feel more reassured. So finally, after lying there for ages, I dozed off into what I hoped was a blissful sleep.

I found myself walking through some odd neighborhood. The buildings were ordinary, not luxurious, but normal. I would've thought everything was usual but there was an odd feeling about the place. It looked abandoned. It was oddly cold and almost foggy. You could hear dying screams in the distance and out of the darkness came a screech of terror. I started sprinting down a side street off Fifth Avenue. I heard them getting closer. I knew it was the Zerg. It had to be. What else would it be? At that moment, I didn't know and didn't care. All I knew was I had to get somewhere safe. In my attempts to scatter, I tripped on a trash can that had fallen over in the surprisingly hard wind.

I knew I only had seconds and could never outrun them. The screeching grew louder and louder. Death was rolling on right toward me. Yanking myself up, I took off down the street at an astonishingly slow pace. Then out of nowhere, a black mass crashed into me. The action flipped me around facing it. What I saw scared me more than anything. It wasn't the Zerg, it wasn't some zombie . . . it was a bloody, tentacled, horrifying image of . . . myself.

I swung awake with a jolt. I was sweating something horrible. You'd think that I'd just finished a marathon. I sucked in a deep breath and hauled myself out of bed. As I slowly forgot about the dream, I remembered the tour was to be finished today. I must say, that was a little exhilarating.

I looked around. There was no one in the supply depot except me. _Okay_? _What time is it?_ I walked over to the entrance. It was barely morning, maybe five o'clock. Baffled as I was, I walked outside. Marines of all sizes in their big heavy suits ran around._ Isn't this place ever just normal for once?_

I glanced around, looking for Jackson. I remembered that he had a picture of a skull on his shoulder that gave me some hope. I began to walk toward the bunkers to check there when I ran into someone. I didn't realize who it was till I took a step back.

"I'm really, really sorry, man," I said, gawking at the ghost I'd seen yesterday.

"Get out of my way, punk!" he yelled, shoving me. The voice that sounded from his mask sounded slightly scratchy. Then he laughed. "I'm just kidding, man." He gave me a friendly slug in the shoulder. He was a little taller than me, but not by much.

"What's up, my name is Tenny," he said, holding out his hand. I reached out and shook it.

"H, h, hey." I stammered.

"Something wrong?" He asked.

"No, I was just, um," then out of no where a hand grabbed my bicep, spun me around and yelled. I screamed like a little girl and swung my fist outwards. My knuckles hit the target dead on. It happened so fast I didn't notice who I had hit; it turned out to be another ghost.

"GAAAH!" the guy yelled. In the background I could hear Tenny laughing. Between laughs he said—

"And that. . . my friend . . . is what you get," Tenny continued to laugh as the other ghost got off of his knees.

"If I didn't have direct orders not to harm you, then I would have ripped out your spinal cords!" The ghost said.

"Anyways, this is Derk, Rod," Tenny said, taking control of himself.

"Now hold up," I said, eyeing the ghosts. "How in the world do you guys know who I am?"

"Mr. Plank told us." Derk said.

"So, changing the subject," Tenny said eyeing, Derk who was rubbing his jaw, "Do you have some sort of idea as to what your plans are; I mean, now that there is a Zerg threat and everything?"

"Uh well I haven't really thought about it." I said. _Crap I haven't even decided if I even want to be in this circus._

"Well think about it now. Like, what unit are you going to be? Marine, Marauder, a pilot at the starport?" Tenny asked.

"Um… I don't even know if I'm even going to be in the Orange Terran."

"Sorry to say but you really don't have a choice. I mean do you really think you can just walk away from what you've been through. Your _friends _over here will never accept you into society again. You've spent too much time in this camp." Derk said, folding his arms.

"Well I could always say you guys took me captive and I couldn't escape." I said. The moment those words left my mouth I knew I was done for. Derk took a step toward me and grabbed me by the shirt. He yanked me viscously closer to his face.

"Let it be known you pathetic piece of garbage. You let one little word out of your puny mouth about us, and I will personally cut the skin off your scrawny little body and make myself a throw rug!" Derk said, throwing me on the ground sending a wave of pain through my back.

"Gahhh!" I yelled.

"Sorry Rod but you had that one coming." Tenny said, helping me up. Derk stalked off towards a building under construction.

"Hey, Tenny what are those things called that are building that thing over there?" I asked rubbing my back.

"Those are called SCVs. They are very important and it is crucial that none of them die. Sometimes the enemy will send in strike forces that will focus down just the SCVs. Without them there is no mining, which means no minerals, which means no buildings, which means no men," Tenny said looking over at the construction site. "If it comes down to either you or an SCV dying, well, there's no better way to put it then knowing that the SCV would live to fight another day. But of course it depends on what unit you are, and the circumstance. You probably don't have to worry about it, as long as you don't pick a marine or anything. The best answer would be, kill the threat, therefore you both live."

"Eh okay but what is it building?" I asked, trying to keep the thought of sacrificing myself out of my head.

"They are building a ghost academy so we can train more ghosts and we can make nukes. Don't know why we would use one on this planet but, eh why not."

"You guys can make nukes!?" I asked "Just like that?"

"Yeah pretty much. As long as we have the minerals and gas."

"Huh. Wow. Your technology is vastly superior to ours." I said becoming more and more surprised of what they could actually do. _Making nukes here takes a much longer time and more resources than a handful of men and a building. I also heard from a marine that this was a tiny fighting force. Nothing compared to whatever was on some planet called, Jinksole. Maybe. . . just maybe I might consider joining these guys. I never wanted to go into the army before, but… well truthfully it looks… kind of… fun. _


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**Derk's POV**

"Ugh! I'm already sick of that little nutcase!" I said crunching my fist.

"Ah, Derk give the kid a break he doesn't know what's going on very well and he is trying to absorb everything in, while trying to keep his sanity." Tenny said slapping my shoulder.

"Whatever you say," I said. _This kid acts like he knows everything. It really grinds my nerves. _

"Oh and we have been asked to accompany Mr. Plank while he goes to the meeting. He has given us full permission to blow their heads off if they try anything tricky." Tenny said leading the way to the newly built command center.

"Wait I thought that they wanted to talk to him alone?" I asked.

"Well yeah, kind of, but all we have to do is ask if we can tag along. If they say no… we will anyways. Whether they can see us or not." Tenny said elbowing my arm in a friendly gesture.

Plank was just walking out of the command center as we approached it, wearing his spiffy white shirt and tie.

"Okay girl scouts, I'm sure Tenny told you about what we are going to be doing." Mr. Plank said.

"Yes sir, he did." I said.

"Alright then I have been given directions to where we will be heading. I was _thinking _about getting a ride in a medivac—"

"Ugh." I groaned.

"But… I think we are good enough to barrow some vulture bikes from the factory don't you think?" Mr. Plank said with a grin. My heart lifted and I snickered to myself. Vulture bikes are a little old fashion but that's what made them fun. They have an engine that could cruise faster than any Ferrari they have here. Of course they are a bit dangerous, in which the motor could explode, but who cares. Vultures were and still are the funnest hover vehicle around, and plus, who wouldn't want to cover spider mines across the ground.

We both grinned and nodded our heads. As three brand new vulture bikes came roaring up next to us.

"This is going to be a blast," I said. "We'll scare the pants off these pansies before we even enter the building."

"Ha, ha you got it Derk." Tenny said.

"Well then, shall we." Mr. Plank said, gesturing his hands toward the bikes.

We all anxiously scrambled on to them and roared their grinding engines.

"Let's go roast us some thick heads." I said crouching in a biker stance.

We rolled down the streets roaring our engines. Most people shied away from the streets as we cruised on by. Others continued to watch us, almost in horror.

We screeched to a stop as some police officer stopped us and took us to the white house, as it was put. He marched us straight into a room where the president sat.

"Greetings, oh so gracious one. Why have you wasted our time in bringing us before your so wonderful shiny bald head?" Derk criticized, with a quick look from Mr. Plank, almost a scowl.

"I hope you know that with a wave of my hand you all can be sent to jail." The president said, with a glare.

"Now we don't want to stir up any trouble." Mr. Plank said. "But if you insist."

Plank gave us a signal. Tenny and I quickly turned to the guards, they reached for their guns, but it was too late. Tenny had already swiped the weapon out of one man's hand while knocking the other dizzy by slapping him in the face.

The first guard kicked his foot toward Tenny, but he was too slow. Already the ghost had thrown guard number two into a spiral crashing into the first one. The president hadn't been hesitant when he pointed his pistol at me and fired.

It didn't catch me by surprise at all. I had known that their guns were out dated by far, so all the bullet did was bounce off my shoulder plates. I laughed and threw a random china plate off the wall at his face. It sent him collapsing backward. I grabbed the president and threw him against the wall.

"Okay boys, I do think they have had enough," Mr. Plank said with a chuckle.

"You will never get away with this. The whole military is being sent to blow you to pieces as we speak!" The president yelled.

"With the pathetic junk you guys have you it is possible you would kill a small squadron…. Maybe." I said holding the president against the wall so he wouldn't do anything else.

"Now let's be fair. You guys _will _cooperate with us, and no harm will befall anyone. Well at least not from us." Mr. Plank said, suddenly getting serious. "Tell your guards to back down, and we can settle this like real civilized men." Tenny was holding both guards down with ease.

"Fine, it's not like you give me any other choice. Guards, enough. I don't want any further fighting."

"Tenny release them." Mr. Plank ordered. Tenny did as he was asked. "Now as fun as that was, let's talk about why we are actually here." The president had taken to a seat, as did Mr. Plank. The rest of us stayed standing.

"This is going to sound ridiculous but I could care less about what you think of it. What you need to first get through those thick skulls of yours, is that we are not here to harm, or to save your miserable lives. We are here for one reason, and that is to stop the Zerg from expanding and becoming a bigger threat.

Now before any questions I will make this very brief. The Zerg are a very dangerous species. They have armored plating that is a part of their bodies. There are many varieties of Zerg, but that irrelevant to my point. All that matters is that they are coming to invade and you stand no chance. They have an army vastly superior to yours in too many ways to count. So before you waste all your troops attacking us, you might want to consider we are on the same side. The Zerg are not to be toyed with. They will stop at nothing to irradiate and infest every thing here. I know it is a lot to absorb but you will have to deal with it."

"Ha, you expect me to believe all this nonsense." The president spat.

"Yes that's why I am contributing my valuable time explaining this to you." Mr. Plank said looking very annoyed. The president was deep in thought. "And to add on top of that, where in the world do you think _we_ came from."

"Very well, this doesn't mean that this is over. I just need time to think. I will call off my army for now. I highly dought that this so called _Zerg _actually exists, but I don't want to take any chances. Guards call off my men. I don't want any further bloodshed.

"Very well sir." The guard said giving Tenny one last glare.

"I am not at all happy about this but you have proven to be ahead of our technology. That still doesn't mean we are alleys. It simply means I will back down for know. Leave, and I will send a messenger to you when I have actually talked with my country." The president said as he dismissed us.

"Oh and one last thing," Tenny said, as we filed out the door. "You really need to get better security; two guards aren't enough to take on a child. Good day."

The guards shut the door and took us back to our bikes. We cruised back to camp and put returned the vultures back to the factory.

"I think that went fairly well." Tenny said. "Sure we had a small skirmish but he soaked most of it in very well."

"Good job ghosts. I would like you Tenny to start spreading men across the town, with or without their president's permission." Mr. Plank ordered. "We have the air around this planet secured so I highly dought they will slip in without our Battlecruisers seeing it. Eh, but you know the Zerg; anyway, good day gentlemen." Mr. Plank headed back toward the command center.

"How long do you think he will stay?" I asked "He's bound to have more important issues to attend to. Jinksole, and Nartes are obviously more important."

"I don't know Derk. He must have thought that keeping this planet was vital or perhaps he can no longer aid the fight on Jinksole." Tenny replied, shrugging his shoulders.

I started toward the newly built ghost academy searching for a shower. I pondered on what the Zerg's next move might be. _They were so persistent, but how could they break our forces. Possibly a nidus worm if they could sneak an overlord in. There just wasn't any other options, unless they simply just sent their entire army. They had done it before, and it was fairly successful; but at that time they desperate. I could see the Blue Zerg rushing in with few casualties, but the Red Zerg? They weren't like that. The Red Zerg like to play it safe, only attacking if the battle favored them. Risks were never taken. Huh, well at least we don't have to worry about the ruthless Blue Zerg. That's something to be grateful for._

My thoughts wondered as I started to think about the Blue Zerg. _The Blue Zerg are terrible. They had no mercy and would infest anybody who would rather die. They would always choose what that civilization would fear worse. Death or infestation. Myself of course would always pick death over any kind of mutation. I would hate to have some kind of parasite in me controlling my every move. I've heard that you can actually watch everything that happens, but can't stop yourself from doing it. _

I almost ran into Mark, the newly imported ghost, who recently landed, as I approached the ghost academy. I didn't know him very well even though the orange Terran had a very small amount of ghosts. I had seen him around some times on different missions but never got to know him.

"Oh, sorry Mark, didn't see you." I said, looking to just quick apologize then be on my way.

"Oh that's fine, but, I think that being the best of the Terran you would be more careful, blundering in to someone like a drunken old fool, heh heh." Mark said with that voice that just says "Oh man I need a slug in the face." In other words he thinks he's better than me. "You still have a lot to learn my young friend. You still act as a small child, always wanting to be in combat and never think for the safety of anyone else. Being an Orange Terran you need to ensure the safety of everyone around you and—"

I'd had enough.

"Look you dirty flee bag, I'm not going to let you talk crap on me. You think you can march in here like some kind of amazing hero. You act like you created the orange Terran. What do you think you are some kind of god?" I said marching past him. "And one more thing, I am no one's _young _friend! Meet me tonight behind this school and I'll show you a piece of my mind. _We'll_ see who's the small child!" I yelled stomping off in rage.

I had left him stunned. Molded to the ground, I didn't mean to be _that _angry to a fellow ghost, and it seemed to me that he wasn't trying to be mean. That's just how he is. Proud to wear orange, which makes me angrier.

_Maybe I'll just call it off. I didn't really want to fight him. Maybe he _was _really good. Eh who cares it won't be something serious, just a small skirmish._

Once I finally found the showers, I closed the door and got in. The hot water felt amazing on my back. It felt good just to stand there and feel the water run down my shoulder blades. I looked down and remembered I got a hit by that hydralisk, and sure enough there was a long scratch across my side._ Ugh I should've been wearing an overshield, and some better armor; though it was uncomfortable._

Sense all Terrans have scrapes, scratches and battle scars they forget to heal there was a medical beam that hangs on the wall. I grabbed it and pushed the button. A long green ray shot out of the front of it and hit my wound.

Within ten seconds the wound was gone. All healed. I loved our technology. People hardly ever use bandages anymore. Every house usually has one of these. Good thing medics carry these around or a medic's life would be hell.

I started to relax again when there was suddenly a big bang on the door that sent a spasm through my entire body.

"Hey Derk, is that you?" Tenny yelled.

"Ugh! What do you want!?" I yelled back.

"Mr. Plank wants us. He says it's important."

"Ugh! Now?"

"Yes now, come on."

"Alright be out in a second." I said. I could hear the furry in my own voice. Today couldn't get any worse.

So I shut off the water, dried myself off and threw on the same ghost outfit, which was still sweaty, aside from the fact that there was supposed to be a Sweateater, to absorb liquid, installed._ Darn, looks like I have an older version._

I went to the command center, past where they made SCV's and up a small flight of steps. There was a door and I let myself in.

"Hello Derk it's about time." Mr. Plank said, standing up. Tenny stood to my left. There was a chair with wheels on it in the center of the room.

"Sir." I said in greeting.

"Alright so you might be wondering why I have brought you two here." Mr. Plank said looking at each of us.

We both mumbled a yes and Mr. Plank continued.

"I'm sure you both are aware that I need to be leaving sense I have other important matters to attend." He said.

"So I need someone to be in command of this place and to keep it running."

"Yes." Tenny and I said. Excitement hit me like a shockwave. My palms and forehead started to sweat. Tenny began to smile.

"So I was thinking…." Mr. Plank said turning around with his hands behind his back. Now I was shaking. _This had never happened before. I had never been in charge. How amazing it would be to actually be in command._

Mr. Plank sighed.

"Ben will do." He said. The world fell apart at the mention of his terrible name. Ben… Ben… Ben…_Ben_... My fist clenched at the thought of it. _Him_ in charge?! My world would fall apart. There is nothing left in life to live for. I crumbled in rage. I was fuming. I couldn't hold it…

"GAAH!" I screamed.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**Derk's POV**

_What else could go wrong! _I thought to myself, sulking out of the command center. _My life was going to end! Jenny would never look at me the same again. No dought Ben would find _something _to embarrass me about._

"Derk, calm down man. You look like you were just slapped?" Tenny said, putting a hand on my shoulder.

I felt like barking back at him, fortunately I was smarter than that. I glanced toward the starport, where Jenny was standing; it made me happy thinking about her. She was most beautiful, her eyes were a sparkly blue and—

"I know it sucks to have _Ben _of all people in charge, but I kind of—" Tenny said, interrupting my thoughts.

"Okay I get it man! I know you wanted to be the commander too, but Ben doesn't bother _you _now does he?!" I snapped at him, not intending on being a jerk. Although to my extreme astonishment Tenny busted out laughing.

"Yeah, yeah I'm so funny," I said marching off toward the school. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a bone to pick with Sir Pride-a-lot.

"Alright Derk, what poor fellow are you messin' with now?" Tenny asked.

"Mark," I growled.

I continued to stalk off toward the school. _Man I'm going to bust that snotty face so far back in his skull , he'll be running like a coward._

"Okay, I _have_ to see this." Tenny said. "I don't know man. This Mark guy has been known to be pretty _first-class_, if you know what I mean." Tenny emphasized the "first class" part, followed by nudging my arm with his elbow. We started snickering again, but for some reason my attitude completely veered courses. The thought of having a _real _skirmish just seamed to perk up my mind-set. It's been so long sense we have actually had a scuffle before.

We turned around the side of the building and headed toward the back. We could already hear the yells of Mark's little team, chanting his name. I was excited. As we walked passed the edge of the school I noticed how big of a group had came. I wasn't expecting this. There was a pretty defined whose was on whose side. Mark's guys were chanting his name. The rest of them came up to me saying things like "you got this" or "go show him whose boss.". _Holy crap, this was supposed to be a quick skirmish, what could they possibly expect?_

"Hey, I don't know how mad Ben is gunna be afterwards, but knock this sucker something he ain't gunna forget." Jackson said slugging my shoulder. "Let this joke know his mama ain't gunna be here to save 'im."

"Oh look who decided to show up, heh, you little—" Mark started, but not before I gave him a good blow to his face. I wasn't going to put up with any crap tonight.

"I thought you came to fight," I mocked, "Where's your back up now little lass!" I yelled, Mark through himself at my legs. I tumbled backward and hit the ground hard.

"Don't stand here and lecture me about being a chick." Mark retaliated. I kicked him backwards off me, and then rolled forward away from any other retaliation. I spun around, throwing my arm into his face.

He staggered backward, giving me enough time to flip over him. I quickly wrapped my arm around his neck, putting him into a tight head lock.

"You called down the thunder." I growled. He dived into a somersault, taking me with him; but I held on. "Now deal with it!"

Mark was finally able to elbow me in the gut releasing some of my grip, he took the chance to grip my arms and throw me over his head. Unfortunately for him I knew this move. I grabbed his arms, and spun around, crossing his arms. I then put my right foot behind his left leg and shoved him forward, making him fall completely backward, hitting the ground hard.

I quickly glanced around looking at the crowd around me, but then I saw someone who I really was hoping wouldn't be here…. Jenny. I didn't have to long to look though, Mark wasn't finished, he was up in seconds. Mark threw a couple of easy dodged punches, but then he did a spin kick and hit me in the side of my chin. I recovered quickly. He kicked at me again, to where I seized his foot. I used my shin to swipe his left leg out from under him. He fell solidly on his back.

"I've had enou—" He began, but was interrupted with a boot in the face. Mark let out a long groaned. Catching Jenny's eye I couldn't help but feel victorious. She was shaking her head smiling as if saying "Uhh, boys." I shrugged and brushed off the dust on my shoulders. I looked back at Mark.

"Nice try buddy, maybe next time." I said. Already starting to head towards Jenny. _Ha!_ _Ben has no chance. _I suddenly heard someone speak, a voice that caused my muscles to tighten.

"Oh, I think not." Ben said stepping forward. "As of your unthinkable, childish actions by starting such an unnecessary brawl, you get the wonderfully honorable, and quite frankly rare, opportunity to fight me."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**Rod's POV**

I sat on an old stump thinking of how different things were going to be now. What was I going to decide to do? I still had a family and something to live for. Or did I really. I mean what did I live for? These Terrans are actually giving me something to do with my life. I don't have to worry about— but randomly I heard many loud shouts and cheers. I started to make my way over to where the noise appeared to be coming from. Behind the school there was a big circle of marines, firebats, an occasional marauder, and three to four ghosts. I twisted myself through the crowd till I got to the front.

I then saw a big muscular guy in a tank top and shorts. He had a small braid to one side of his head, which went down to his shoulder, and dark sunglasses that he tossed to a marine. Across from him there was a ghost. It looked like the one named Derk I had met earlier. He was a little scrawnier then the bigger guy, but aside from his size, Derk still scared me to a great degree.

"What's wrong chump, you ain't scared are you?" The big guy said.

"Well guys. Look what we have here. Ol' Ben thinks he can take on a ghost. All that music blasting in his ear up in that thor must be getting to him." Derk said, with a grin. There were murmured laughs that spread throughout the crowd.

"You're funny Derk. You really are, but seeing as Plank Man asked me to be in charge and not _you_ must say something about your skill in combat;"

"Okay, let's see if you can live up to your expectations," Derk said with another sarcastic grin. Derk appeared to catch eyes with a girl in a dark armored suit. Her hair was black as a raven's feathers. She rolled her eyes; Derk looked away obviously pleased.

Suddenly the atmosphere got tense. Derk and the other guy were just about to lunge into combat when out of nowhere; a voice rang out and yelled:

"Every man for himself!" and then what looked like Tenny, sprung out of nowhere, tackling Derk. In two seconds everything went from jumpy to chaos. Before I could do anything else I was abruptly thrown onto the back of a firebat and was chucked to the side.

I quickly pulled myself off of my feet and ran as far away as I could. I decided to walk over to the barracks, in hope that I could be alone. As I made my way inside, my heart sank to see a small group of, what I think were called reapers, in the back. They all turned and looked at me. I gave a sheepish smile and walking back toward the exit when something out of the corner of my eye got my attention. Turning around I saw Nicky sitting there with them.

I headed over toward my friend. They were already back deep into their card game. I slowly approached, worried that they would spring around and start yelling at me. Nicky was against the wall so I couldn't quite get to him. So I simply peaked over a reaper's shoulder and looked down at the cards. There were shiny pieces of blue crystals sitting in piles next to each player, Nicky being one of them.

"You want somethin'?" The reaper asked, nearly scaring my pants off. I jumped, making all the reapers turn to me again. You couldn't see their faces, because of the helmets they wore, but I could tell by their body language that they weren't all too happy at the interruption.

"Um… sorry I was just… uh." I tried to say, but luckily Nicky saved me.

"Oh, it's all good guys Rod just wanted to talk to me. I'll skip my turn. Be right back," Nicky said as the reapers stood up and let him out. He led me a short distance away.

"So you're not a medivac. Well that's relieving. So I wanted to talk abo—" I started to say but Nicky cut me off.

"Oh, you have it all wrong. I _am_ going to be a medivac. I was just hangin' out with my reaper buddies." Nicky replied giving a small jester toward them, who gave a nod back.

"Oh… Well that's okay. I have finally thought it over and decided that I am not going to be anything," I said shrugging my shoulders.

"What do you mean?"

"Well I just don't want to go get myself killed that's all. I mean the whole idea is just dumb. The only reason these guys are fighting is because they're too lazy to go and get a _real _job." I said, trying to explain. "I mean everyone knows that this is all an act. It is cool that we found people that live outside our planet and everything, but the whole Zerg and Protoss thing is all just because people need money. There is no such thing as the Zerg."

"Rod? What about when you had to run away with Jackson; you guys killed some zerglings. And when you were shot by that hydralisk?"Nicky asked shocked. "What about—"

"Nicky, as I said, it is all an act. That thing that got shot in my arm was part of it. They need to make it realistic. So they had a guy in a suit talk in a scary voice and pretend to get burned. You also have to consider—"

"You can stop right there," A cold dark voice growled from behind. I froze in pure terror. Something lifted me up against a wall.

"I'll kill you myself runt." The voice rumbled again. I was thrown around to look straight into the barrel of a huge squared pistol. The reaper flicked a lever on his back which ignited his jetpack. I felt my feet lift from the ground as he dragged me up the wall.

"Crip! That's enough!" Another voice yelled. The reaper stopped.

"Ben, heh heh, you must not understand! This pile of rotten Zerg flesh has just suggested that we are all a _fake_! I say we peal the membrane from his bones." Crip said, pushing me harder against the wall. I looked down to realize that we were a good ten feet off the ground.

"It's okay bro I will see to it that he is punished, but I kind of need him down here." Ben said.

"Ugh." Crip said before turning back to me and quietly growling: "You get off the hook this time Lifferjingle, but next I see you squakin' that mouth o' 'urs… you'll be strung up by your toes and beaten to death."

Crip let off his jet pack and dropped me on my face. I was relived to be back on the pavement. Unfortanatly, now I had to deal with Ben.

"You are coming with me." He said, grabbing my shoulder and holing me off. Luckily I saw a familiar helmet.

"Ben is this really necessary." Jackson asked stopping in front of us.

"Yes Jackson now back off. You should show me more respect. Is this how you talk to Mr. Plank?" Ben questioned looking Jackson in the eye.

"My apologies, _Ben_." Jackson said. "But let it be known, you won't be boss forever. So enjoy your wonderful throne while it lasts. Rod I will seeyou later."

"Now let's go Lifferjingle." Ben said, grabbing my shirt and pulling me towards the command center. _I'm so screwed._

Ben led me inside and up a flight of stairs. We turned down a hallway and walked through a door. It looked like some sort of control room. There were what looked like flying gears and a giant window at the end of the room. It was like being inside a spaceship.

"Okay pall, we're going to go over some rules that you have obviously not been told," Ben said turning around to face me. "We for one do _not _tick off other troops. The more trouble you stir up, the more miserable your filthy life will be. Do I make myself clear?"

"Uh—" I started.

"Very good, now sense you have already disobeyed that decree you must, of course, be punished," Ben announced as he rubbed his chin. "Now… I think I am a pretty fair guy. So instead of handing you right on over to the reapers, I am going to give you a fair and decent punishment. I heard that you didn't quite understand what we do and why. So instead of wasting my time giving you a lecture…."

"I am going to let you learn it for yourself," Ben said smiling. My heart seemed to stop. I felt weak with despair. My life would never continue. I would be slaughtered in a endless battle. _What have I done? If only I had kept my mouth shut._

"Guuuuh!" I moaned.

"And groaning isn't going to get you anywhere. Oh and also, you will not get the chance to _pick_ what you want to be. If Mr. Plank feels sympathy towards you, you can get promotion from _him _to let you change," Ben said, delighted in my reactions.

"As of now you will be trained as a marine. And don't you worry, we will give you a nice light weight suit that you can lift," Ben remarked, chuckling.

I had finally grown enough courage to stand up for myself.

"Well… uh… w…w…w…why should I have to… uh… join your stupid little army anyway," I said, trying to act tough.

"Yes! Finally you are getting my point. That's the kind of attitude the Orange Terran needs," Ben said slapping my shoulder. "You will start your training early tomorrow. And I don't want to hear any garbage, because that is a very generous amount of time to get prepared. I'll have some guys come and retrieve you." Ben said, turning me around and shoving me out the door. "Now go gets tough."

And with that he slammed the door to the control room.

"Ugh, I think I'll take the reapers right now." I moaned, dragging my feet down the stairs. I was getting tired and wanted to go to bed. I headed towards the supply depot. _I can finally get a good night's sleep._

* * *

**EDIT: Hi everyone. I simply did I quick revision over this Chapter. I don't know why I picked this one, but I did. I also revised Chapter 10 as well. Most of what I revised are really dumb cheesy sentences and also commas. I am terrible with commas. Thank you for your support and please review!  
**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

**Derk's POV**

The tension was tight. I was about to lunge into combat with Ben when I heard Tenny yell from behind me:

"Every man for himself!" I was tackled hard from behind. I landed flat on the ground. I twisted around and punched Tenny hard in the jaw. The force was enough to knock him off of me. I didn't give him a chance to get up and sprung onto his back, but Tenny was smart; he rolled over, and knocked his head backwards into my face.

Dazing me for a second, Tenny took the opportunity to grab my arms, which were grasping his shoulders, and flipped me over him. We both rolled to our feet. I was suddenly hit from behind, by what felt like a thousand pounds. I recovered quickly, twisting around, I grabbed another ghost's fist. Twisting it tightly, I kicked him in the gut and using the back of his neck, I threw him into an oncoming marine.

I ducked just in time from a swing that came from behind. I whirled around to see Jackson in front of me. Dread filled my bones. Fighting someone twice your size in armor isn't the easiest task. He tried an upper cut, so I took grasp of his fist. The momentum flipped me over his head. Taking the advantage of being behind him, I jumped high in the air and kicked with both my legs into his back.

I watched his body topple over, smiling in satisfaction_._ But the moment didn't last long. Before I knew it, I was abruptly thrown back in battle as someone tried to tackle me. I grabbed them, hanging on my back, and flipped them over my back. I recognized Tenny. I grinned in pleasure. _Pay back. _I punched his head and slammed my skull into his face. Grabbing the back and top of his suit I tossed him into another soldier.

Not giving him the chance to recover, I jumped on top of him. All three of us tumbled to the ground. Unexpectedly I was abruptly pulled off of Tenny and turned around. Jenny gave me a dirty grin and then punched me in the face. She followed that up by throwing me once more onto Tenny and the marine. Before I could get her back she disappeared into the crowd.

Finally after a couple of minutes there wasn't a single man standing. Everyone was on the ground moaning. We all eventually broke off and headed back to the supply depots. I walked over to Tenny and slapped him on the back.

"Ah, I needed that," He said. "You got lucky. I should have just knocked you unconscious to begin with."

"Yeah, right. By the time you got close enough to me I would've known you were there and taken you out faster." I said lightly nudging him on the shoulder.

"Oh and don't think that I didn't see you get your butt handed to you by a girl," Tenny said nudging me back.

"Oh come on I wasn't ready."

"I thought ghosts were supposed to always be ready."

"Well I didn't have time to react," I said folding my arms.

"Alright, whatever. Let's get back; I want to get some sleep before tomorrow." Tenny said stretching his arms. We headed toward the supply depots but got intercepted by Bob the SCV.

"Um sorry sirs, but Ben wants to talk to you two," Bob said. "He's over in the command center."

"Thanks Bob," Tenny said, as the SCV headed back over to the construction of another barracks.

"Great, what does he want now?" I asked, marching toward the command center. "If he blames us for what happened I swear he'll regret the day he set eyes on Derk Treeton."

"Oh, calm down Derk. Has there not been enough fighting today?" Tenny asked.

"Pff, there's never enough fighting," I said defensively. We walked in and headed up the stairs. When we got to the top, we walked down the short hallway and merely opened the door.

"It wouldn't hurt to knock you know," Ben said, instantly. He turned to face us. "If you think you're here to be punished then you're mistaken."

"Well praise the Xelnaga. If that's not why we're here then what _do_ you want?" I asked folding my arms.

"I have a mission for you two. You both know that Rod kid don't you?" Ben asked, turning toward us.

"Yea—"

"Well of course you do, so he does not believe that the Zerg and Protoss even exist," Ben said. I slowly started to smile. "So I need you to go change his mind."

"Now you're talking," I said.

"I'm sure Mr. Plank has told you about the planet Ozuretole, where the Zerg infested, but abandoned it for unknown reasons," Ben said.

"Oh yes, we are well aware of it," Tenny said. We both knew where this was heading.

"So will you go take him and a crew down there to teach him…well… a lesson?" Ben remarked, putting his hands behind his back.

"Well of course," Tenny said, giving me a quick glance. I nodded.

"Now that is the upside to this, unfortunately there is in fact a catch. The Orange Terran can benefit from something down on that planet."

"Oh great, I knew it wasn't going to be all pretty ponies and bright skies," I mumbled.

"Now just wait a second, it's not like I'm asking anything difficult. Our magnificent scientist, Clement Harvery needs Zerg Biomass. He said there was a mix of particles on an infester that was passed into some of the infested colonists. Find 'um, kill 'um and collect samples," Ben said.

"Okay, how much is some?" Tenny questioned.

"He didn't specifically say. Just that he needs it. If I were to throw out an estimated guess I would say three to four samples. Enough so if that mad scientist messes up he can have something to work with," Ben replied.

"Alright, fine. So, what vehicle are we going to ride in?" I asked.

"Oh we'll go with the usual medivac," Ben said, dismissively. "It will be awaiting your arrival tomorrow by the Whitehouse."

"Ugh why should I expect any less?" I muttered as we headed out the door.

"Oh you can go ahead and pick some men to go with you. Just don't take all the good ones," Ben said a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Good," Tenny said.

"Okay so how many do you think we'll need?" I asked, heading down the stairs.

"I don't know, two, three others I suppose." Tenny said leading out of the command center.

"Eh, we can figure out who we're taking tomorrow. As of now, I'm going to bed." I said.

I slowly opened my eye, noticing the darkness. I found myself walking out of the supply depot. Looking around I saw absolutely no body. _Huh, strange. Who forgot they were on guard duty this time?_

There was a movement that caught my eye, in pure reaction I cloaked. Flipping out my knife I approached the spot I saw movement. Then a familiar voice said out of the darkness.

"Relax, Derk. It's just me." Jenny said, appearing in front of me. I quickly uncloaked.

"Oh, sorry Jenny." I said, joy filling me bones.

"So, why are you up so early?" She asked giving me a look I've never seen her show before. It was almost a naughty grin. I knew she was leading me into something. "I could sure use something to lift my spirits."

She moved closer and rapped her arm around me.

"So tell me what do _you _want to do?" She asked. I swooped her off her feet.

"Well I think you owe me." I said, moving in to kiss her. But suddenly light filled my eyes and I was back in the supply depot.

"Agh!" I yelled. Frustration burned my chest. "Another dream!"

I thrust myself up off the bed and slammed my fist into the wall.

"Blast these cursed dreams!" I roared. _How could this be possible? I never dream so vividly!_ I marched toward the school, to where I could break something without having hordes of SCVs screaming at me. I hadn't even been paying any attention to who was around, let alone did I care. I ran up to a picture on the wall and threw it across the ground. _Why am I this mad over a dream any ways! _As I smashed another picture. _I am a ghost and should have no feelings for anyone else! All it does is complicate things. All the stories about people getting themselves killed over "love". I didn't want anything to do with it. _I raged over to a counter, rolled over it and swiped off all of the glass on the other counter. _So why do I feel this way! _Anger seemed to take control. Noticing how much damage I was inflicting I halted. _Wait, stop. I am a ghost. Think. Remember your training. I have no faults. I am adaptable. I am perfect. I don't show affection to anyone. I am… calm._

"Dang, Derk, what an outburst," I heard Tenny say. "Never seen one of them before."

"Hmm," I said, chuckling and turning around to face him. "Hello Tenny."

"Eh, even us ghosts need to let off steam every once in a while," Tenny said leaning on the door. "You ready to go then?"

"Of course," I said, walking out of the school after Tenny.

"Mark heard about us going so he volunteered to come," Tenny said leading me toward the barracks. "Go grab some others, and please, for the love of the Xelnaga, don't bring Crip. I heard what happened between Rod and him. Remember, we don't want to _kill_ the kid."

"Pff, why not," I muttered sarcastically under my breath. _I am sorry Tenny, I can't help myself._ So I headed toward the barracks.

* * *

**EDIT: Hi again. As I stated in the previous Chapter I have revised this one as well. Same thing, commas and stupid cheesy sentences. :D REVIEW!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**Rod's POV**

A chill soared up my spine, as I felt the covers leave my body. Anger began to rise in my throat, but then I remembered where I was. So in hope that it wouldn't be Ben I looked up.

"Come on Rod, let's get you suited up." Tenny said. A wave of relief flooded through me. It was only Tenny. "Come on ya lazy rookie."

I was abruptly shoved off my bed. I hit the ground and was suddenly wide awake.

"Okay I'm up!" I said jolting to my feet.

"Alright, follow me. We have to take a trip over to the Whitehouse, to where a medivac is waiting."

"How are we going to get there?" I asked

"Well sense vultures can only carry one person, we will probably pick up some hellions. One person driving, the other one manning the flamethrower up top." Tenny replied. I took a big gulp. This was either going to end well or terrible. We were then approached by three men. In front was Derk holding his gun on his shoulder. Behind him on his right was another ghost that I didn't recognize. I turned my head to his left. Suddenly I froze. That I saw then was going to make this entire trip a disaster for me…. It was Crip.

"Heh, let's go pwn some Zerg, shall we." Derk said smirking. Tenny gave Derk a long and hard glare. Derk smiled back.

"It's about time." Crip said "Hey, Lifferjingle, you think you're going like that? Stop wasting time and go get your armor on."

"Um I don't really know where it is." I said feeling really embarrassed.

"Follow me Rod; I'll take you to where you need to go." Tenny said, leading me toward the barracks. "Get the Hellions ready."

He had me go into a bathroom and take off my shirt. Tenny then took me through a door and onto a platform, with mechanical machines surrounding it.

"Kay, stand onto the platform and put your feet in the metal shoes." Tenny said walking back toward the door we came through.

"Wait so what do I do?" I asked

"Just step into the shoes. They will adjust to your feat size. Then just stand there and let the machines put your armor on." Tenny said leaving the room. _Great, this is going to fun_. The gears started to move. Two metal arm like things grabbed my wrists. They lifted them up so my arms were horizontal in the air. Orange metal plates started to be pushed onto my skin. The freezing metal began to be welded together. After several minutes I had on this big orange suit with a gun that said, C14 Gauss Rifle across it. The machines let go and I was able to walk forward. The suit was slightly heavy. _That is interesting. It doesn't weigh much. Ha and I thought all the men were strong. _

"So how do you like it?" Tenny asked leaning the door.

"It is surprisingly light. Are they are like this?" I asked moving my arms around.

"No. We just know that you aren't strong enough to lift anything else."

"Uh, of course I could." I replied

"Alright Rod, whatever you say. The mechanics in the armor will enhance your abilities, such as strength. The machine can recognize certain thoughts in your brain. Like if you want the glass face shield lowered." Tenny said.

"Huh that's cool. Let me try." I did as he said. The suit responded by letting down the face guard. "That's pretty sweet. Anything else I can do?"

"No, except there is a stimpack that is located at the side of your suit. I don't however recommend using it unless you are ordered to or are in a tight spot." Tenny replied heading out of the room. "Alright now let's stop wasting time and join the others with the hellions."

We walked out of the barracks and went over to the others.

"Are you guys finally ready to go?" Derk said, leaning on a huge car like vehicle with a giant flamethrower on top. The wheels stretched out in front of the car. _This must be a hellion._ A golden window covered the driver's seat window. Two other hellions sat next to it.

"Okay fools, I call driving." Crip announced, pushing his way toward one of the hellions. He opened up the gold window and jumped inside the vehicle. "What are you guys standing around for? Stop dawdling and get in!"

And on that note everyone approached the vehicles. Derk grabbed his own, Mark rushed over toward the last one, Tenny jumped in with Derk, and the other ghost got in with Mark. _Crap. Crip is the only one left. _

"Come on n00b, get in!" Crip yelled. I quickly obeyed and jumped up on the flamethrower. I set my weapon down next to my feet and grabbed on to the big gun in front of me. I was suddenly jerked forward and almost thrown off of the vehicle. Crip sailed past the bunkers and flew down the street. The others followed.

At first being petrified by the speed we were going I strangely started to feel excited. Even with the suit on I could feel the pressure of the wind pull me back. We rounded a corner and nearly missed a pedestrian. Derk's hellion was slowly approaching. I slammed my hand on the window. Once I got Crip's attention I motioned behind us.

Crip quickly swerved over and crashed into his front wheels. Derk swerved over slightly and then veered toward Crip's other side and quickly rolling around our hellion.

I suddenly looked around for Mark. I couldn't see him anywhere, but out of nowhere I looked over to the other side of the road and saw him blazing right on top of the roof tops. I almost fell backward in pure shock. He rolled off the roofs and in front of Tenny and Derk. Crip jerked toward the side and swerved up on the side of the buildings and back on the road in front of Mark. I almost lost my stomach. We soon came to a screeching halt. There was an aircraft sitting on the ground near the Whitehouse.

"Alright guys pile in." Derk said jumping out of the hellion, followed by everyone else. Derk walked up to the guards who were standing in front of the gates to the Whitehouse. "These hellions are yours, from the most loving and caring Orange Terran. Plank Man sends his regards."

We all walked up the ramp into the shuttle.

"Strap in," A voice came on over some intercom.

"Wow, who said that?" I asked.

"Crip, did you bring your cards?" Mark asked, rubbing his hands together.

"Of course I did." Crip replied pulling them out of some kind of case. We all sat around a circular table. He put a pile of cards in the middle. "Okay everyone throw in whatever minerals you have. Jingle watch what we do and you might learn something."

Everybody searched themselves for crystals, and put them next to the stack of cards. Crip passed everyone three cards. "I'll start us off."

Crip put all of his three cards on the center pile and collected fifteen minerals.

"Kay, go Mark," Tenny said watching. Mark put a card down in the pile and collected five minerals. Tenny kept all his cards. The other ghost did the same. Derk put two cards in and took ten minerals. Then I noticed it was my turn. I hesitated but decided to just keep what I had and pass like Tenny did.

"Okay now it gets fun." Mark said smiling. Crip bought a card for ten minerals and then leaned over and whispered to me—

"Okay I am about to introduce you to the betting part of the game. I am going to give you a gamble and you can choose to agree or disagree. I bet that I will have no cards by the end of Derk's turn. Kay, simple. If you disagree and you are right, you get all my minerals. If I am right I get your cards." Crip snickered. _ Huh, makes sense. Pff he won't get rid of all his cards, he still has one card left. His turn is over. . . Wait he is probably trying to trick me . . ._ _Nah there is definitely now way._

"I disagree," I whispered back smiling. I just won fifteen minerals. I was sure of it. Now it was Mark's turn, he put down another card and collected ten more minerals. Tenny kept his cards and passed. The ghost put down two cards and collected twenty minerals. And then Derk took Crip's card and gave him ten minerals. _Wow what just happened! No! Crip had no cards. _My heart sank as Crip smirked and all I had_._ It was now my turn and I didn't have anything.

"Um…" I mumbled.

"Sorry Jingle. You have to leave the game . . . with nothing." Crip said

"Okay now wait a minute—" I argued.

"You're out, now deal with it." Crip growled.

"Hey it's cool, Rod. We all had our first time playing this game. In fact mine was much worse." Tenny said, trying to make me feel better.

"All right I'll just watch now." I said folding my arms and slumping my shoulders. They continued on with the game and I didn't pay to close attention. I noticed that the more cards you had the likelier you were to have your cards taken and then on the next round traded in for more money. This is what Crip kept doing. No one could ever take his cards because he would always trade them in for more minerals.

I had also noticed that bets were very dangerous to disagree with. The person placing the bet could most of the time make it so they were right. But I soon got tired of watching and started to feel sleep creep over me. Soon enough I couldn't even keep my eyes open. So I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

A massive shove jerked me out of my slumber.

"Agh!" I yelled, accidentally slamming my head on the table in front of me.

"Wake up princess, were here." Crip growled. I looked around at everyone. Tenny was loading his gun, Derk was jumping around the exit of the medivac excitedly, Mark appeared to be practicing battle moves, and the other ghost was gazing out the window. I turned to my side and saw Crip glaring at me in my puny suit and shaking his head.

"I'll be surprised if you last five minutes." Crip snarled.

"Well then you are the one who has to watch him so he doesn't. Ben told us to teach him a lesson. Not kill him." Tenny said, retrieving a rag and started to polish his gun.

"Oh please, like Ben really cares." Crip said. Marching off toward the front of the medivac and pounded on the wall. "Okay we're ready!"

Almost immediately the giant metal ramp lowered and Crip instantaneously lit his jetpack.

"Geronimo!" Crip shouted and then was out of the ship. Derk threw me a parachute and then jumped off as well. The others followed. I slowly lowered myself over towards the end of the ramp when Mark came from behind and shoved me off the slope. I screamed in horror, seeing as the ground approaching at a rapid pace. The wind was slapping against me incredibly hard so I quickly pulled the string and the parachute sailed out. It jerked me upward and made me lose my stomach. I saw all the vomit hit the back of Derk's parachute. I decided I would not tell him.

I slowly came to a halt and landed on the ground. I let out a sigh of relief and let my shoulder's sag down.

"Rod! Wake up; what do you think you are doing!" I heard Derk yell. Not a moment before we hit the ground did I see swarms of mutated bodies stumbling toward us at a high speed. "What do you think this is, nap time! Let's move!"

Suddenly the excruciating fear was stripped away by adrenaline. I bolted after Derk, who was running after the others. _What was going on! Why didn't they tell me what was going to happen! What are those things!? _They were heading to a small rundown building. Now that I was able to take in my surroundings a little more, I saw that all the buildings were wrecked and damaged. There were tentacles hanging out of windows and almost morphed onto the buildings themselves. Maybe this Zerg really did exist. And plus these monsterish humans didn't look quite normal anyway.

Everyone stopped and started shooting their guns at the scary people. They weren't the fastest so we had a good distance between us, but unexpectedly the monsters started breaching through the houses surrounding us.

"Rod! For Plank's sake pull out your gun and shoot!" Mark bellowed, slicing a Zombie's throat that was coming from behind. I franticly shook my head, regaining some control over my body and pulled out my C14 Gauss rifle that I had received earlier. I began to blast at the infested people.

Out of nowhere one exploded out of the ground and scraped at my armor. I let out a girly scream and then wimpily punched it in its disfigured face. But the monster didn't let up. It raked my arms and tried to bite down on my shoulder. I realized that I still had a gun in my hand and swung it across its head. It rolled off me and I flung myself to the side and kicked it in the skull. Taking my gun I pointed it at its face and fired. Blood flung everywhere. I suddenly remembered my face shield. Immediately the gold glass fell in front of my face.

"What are doing lying down on the job Jingle." Crip growled, grabbing the back of my suit and lifted my off the ground and on my feet. "Don't you know the most dangerous place to be is on the ground?"

Crip flung me behind him and pushed me toward the others, who were inside a banged up house.

"Go take cover with them. I still want to beat these guys something they won't forget."

Crip took off back to the zombies. I sprinted over to where Tenny was, signaling at me.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**Derk's POV**

A colonist lunged from behind, as I threw off a zombie. The monster slammed into my side. I grabbed it by its horn and flung it sideways, stabbing a knife through its face.

Suddenly they burst from the ground and started hacking on my shoulders. I back kicked one in the stomach, and blew the head off another running towards me. I got a glimpse of Tenny throwing Rod behind him, but the infested colonists came flooding through the windows and I lost sight of him.

"Tenny!" I yelled over my shoulder, wrestling with a zombie. "There are too many of them bro! We have to find a choke point!"

Tenny smashed through a group of colonists to face me.

"There is no choke here, we'll have to blast our way through them." Tenny yelled, knifing a row of Zerg.

"Alright then, let's make a path," I shouted, shoving my way through the monsters. I slashed side to side with my knife trying to get to the windows. I took hold of my gun, heaved it down a zombie's throat, and fired. Kicking it out of the way I lunged through the window and fell flat on my face. Tenny was right behind me, falling onto my back. There were fewer zombies outside the building. I spotted Crip and signaled for him to throw a deuterium-eight charge into the building, where they were all clumped up.

"Heh, I love it when a plan comes together." Crip growled, throwing a charge into the mess. A sudden thought rushed into my head. _Where is Rod?! _

"Where's Rod?!" I yelled, throwing my fist into an infested face. Taking my knife I jammed it into the gut of the zombie. "And Leary, the other ghost."

"I am here." Leary said, just as several loud bangs rang from the building. Organs, guts, blood, and other zergafied parts were flung everywhere.

"Rod!" Tenny screamed, looking around. A zombie ran at me full speed, but was too late. I had already pulled out my rifle and blew its head off.

"Oh calm down he wasn't in the explosion, I saw him running like the dickens off that way." Crip snarled, pointing over down the street away from where we came from.

"Oh that's just great." Mark said, angrily as he stumbled out of the blown up house covered in zombie guts. "And next time you blow up a building filled with infested colonists. Make sure I'm not in it!"

"Ha, look everyone it's Mark." Crip mocked.

"Shut up Crip!" Mark said, kicking off a tentacle wrapped around his leg. "So where _is_ Rod? You guys do know that we have to make sure he makes it back to camp . . . right?"

"Yes we're not stupid." I said. "So let's go get him."

"Why, all we have to do is say that Rod wasn't cut out for the job," Crip said.

"Huh," Tenny huffed, "You actually think Ben will fall for that.."

"Alright, alright. Let's go and grab this son of gun." Crip snarled, lighting his jetpack and barreling down the horror stricken road.

"Well don't just stand there like a bunch of paralyzed snails, let's get a move on." Tenny yelled, running after Crip.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

**Rod's POV**

I sprinted down the road, away from all the zombies. Terror filled my spine as one blew out from beneath me, sending me rolling across the asphalt.

The monster dove at me. I lunged out of the way and sprang to my feet. The infested colonist grabbed my leg, making me fall on my face. I kicked outward. A satisfying crack sounded from his nose. It let go. I took the opportunity to get up and run.

At the end of the street stood a huge temple with gigantic pillars. I took off toward it in hope that it would provide an escape from the monsters. _It is sacred . . . right? That should keep the infested away. I hope._

I approached the monastery. I hesitated after hearing an ear splitting roar coming from behind me. I dashed inside the darkened room. I could hear water dripping off in the distance. The darkness seamed to engulf me in its thickness. Moss hung on the pillars around me. The place had a very humid feel to it. I looked down to see water forming on my arms. A cold breeze lifted the dust off the ground and into my face. Ahead of me was a long corridor disappearing into the blackness. I slowly stepped forward. The deadly screaming was the only thing pushing me on. The corridor opened up into a huge room with pillars aligning the cobblestone walls.

There was a small goblet on the end of a staff in the middle of the chamber. I walked up to the cup and looked inside. Water slushed around in the middle of it, even though there was no movement anywhere.

"Hmm. . ." I mumbled. I reached down to pick it up. A loud crash, exploded from the wall in front of me. A gigantic monster the size of the room itself smashed through the barrier. It had six long jagged legs, and was plated like the rest of the Zerg. Its head was a flat plate with three four feet long teeth coming from under it. The monster had two long arms that ended in a sharp claw. It let out a ferocious scream, and smashed the rest of the way through the wall.

"Aaaah!" I yelled, and darted in the opposite direction. I could hear it spring forward in pursuit. The temple shook as it let out another terrible roar. The pillars on the sides fell as the monster shoved its way through the corridor. The Zerg was tearing everything to pieces as it ran at me. The whole temple trembled and began to fall.

The exit seemed so far away. I ran harder. The door was getting closer, but I tripped on the red carpet, falling back on my face. I looked up to see a part of the ceiling fall. Rolling over it hit where I had been moments earlier. Jumping up I made my way to the door, the monster still on my tail. The beast lurched forward knocking down more of the sanctuary. I burst through the exit and ran down the steps. I turned around to see the Zerg monstrosity crash through the front of the temple, as the rest of it tumbled to the ground.

I sprinted away when I heard someone yell at me from my left, I twisted to see a very annoyed Crip charging straight at me. The others weren't far behind, firing at the massive creature.

"What are you doing, standing there like an idiot?" Crip yelled, throwing me my weapon I had dropped previously. "Take your gun and blow that things head off!"

I obeyed and turned to shoot at the Zerg.

"Tenny, this is useless; we can't take on a Brutalisk," Derk yelled. The monster shook its head and then threw itself at us.

"Well then let's get the heck out of here," he replied. "Crip, throw a charge and let's leave!"

"Heh heh, okay." Crip growled. He reached down and pulled a device off his suit. We all ran the opposite direction as the explosive hit the ground. Sprinting into another building we heard a brutal yell, shake the ground. Loud thumping noises followed as the angry beast stomped away. We all to let out a long sigh of relief.

"Well that was exciting," Leary said.

"Pff you can say that again," Mark said.

"Hold up guys, if we can kill that Brutalisk, that will give us more than enough biomass to take back to Clement," Tenny said.

"Now wait a second, I was told that we had to kill the colonists that had infested particles on them. It would be a lot easier to kill a couple more infested then to fight a giant monster," Leary said. "I don't want to go on a suicidal mission to kill a Brutalisk that is well above our level of combat."

"Ahh stop being a baby. I'm going to start calling you Rod number two," Crip growled.

"Um guys, I was chased down a collapsing hallway by that thing. I don't want to go anywhere near it," I said shivering at the thought of being chewed up by the monstrosity.

"Man you guys are a bunch of wimps," Mark said, throwing up his arms.

"Well now wait a second Leary has a point. We don't want to over commit just because we want to leave quicker. Let's at least think this through," Tenny said.

"What is there to think about? The thing is slower than tar, all we have to do is have someone dance back and forth with it, while the others blast the snot out of it," Derk said, standing up from his crouching position.

"You really think it is that easy? What are our bullets going to do against its five feet thick plating? It will take five of Crip's charges just to tickle it," Leary argued.

"I have an idea, how 'bout you guys find its week spot?" I asked.

"See that is the thing about the Zerg, they don't _have _weak spots," Leary said.

"Oh for the love of all the Xelnaga, will you all just pick a blasted side!" Crip cursed angrily. "One moment Tenny wants to fight, the next he doesn't. Rod starts to cry first thing, now he's ready to battle. Just make up your minds! Now I am going to go and teach this piece of crap whose boss and I don't care who's coming with me, but I know for dang sure I will not stand to let some Zerg get the best of me!"

And with that, Crip lit his jet pack, let out an ear splitting war cry and was over the brick wall chasing after the Brutalisk. We all sat stunned and speechless, until Derk broke the silence.

"For the Orange Terran!" he yelled and ran after Crip, followed by Mark, yelling and screaming.

"Curse my life," Tenny said and sprinted after the others.

"Well come on then," Leary said. I let out a long sigh then followed him.

When we finally caught up to the creature, Crip had already launched himself into combat with virtually now battle plan. I sighed, dispising what would come next. I quickly ran up through up an outside metal staircase that lead to a roof. The Brutalisk was in the middle of a town square type layout. Crip was flying toward it yelling and screaming gibberish. I stared in horror at the monster, thrusting its three story tall claws around.

"What are you doing just sitting there?!" Leary shouted.

"I don't know what to—" I started.

"I need you to go around to the far side of the Brutalisk. Once you get there run inside the large sky scraper and plant this charge inside. I want to crush this monster before someone gets killed," Leary said handing me the charge.

"Are you sure you don't want someone else with more skill to do this?" I asked.

"Well what else are you going to do? Stand there and look pretty. Now get a move on!"

I decided that arguing was pointless, so I turned and ran toward the large building._ Pff. If freaking bullets can't penetrate the brute, what the crap is a structure ten feet taller than it going to do?_ I ignored my doubts and sprinted on.

Once I reached the tower I headed to what I thought was the middle of the building. I set the explosive down and called Leary through my helmet.

"Okay I'm here. Now what?" I asked. Leary's voice blasted through the speakers.

"_Now is not the time!"_ he screamed. "Just push the dag nabbed button and _run_!"

I jumped at his harsh tone and then quickly pushed the big red button. It made a loud beeping noise, causing me to turn tail and ran. Jumping over a table I rolled out the door and sprinted away from the building. I looked sideways at the fight and saw Crip flying around the monster's head.

I turned to see an explosion come from the bottom of the sky scraper. It then collapsed… the wrong way. Dust instantly sprung from the ground and a massive cloud hit me, almost knocking me over. Immediately after, a painful blow hit the entire right half of my body. I was flung across the street and crashed into a bunch of rubble. Pain fumed from my body. I couldn't get up. Either I was too exhausted or there was some unseen force nailing me to the floor.

As I lied there gasping for breath, I looked up to see Derk lean over and yell something at me. I simply starred stupidly back at him until he lost patience and threw me over his shoulder.

There was no other sound but the ringing in my ears. My head throbbed and I felt like passing out. My body then hit the ground. I saw Derk in front of me again. His voice was faint, but getting louder. He ran over to the door way and motioned for me to follow him. It took all the energy I had, but I pulled myself up. The ringing began to fade and reality came flooding back in. Derk threw me a gun.

"You okay?" Derk yelled, firing his weapon at the Zerg. I stumbled over to him, raising my weapon.

"Uh, yeah. I should be fine," I said as I limped outside, readying my weapon. The Brutalisk appeared angrier than ever. It was crushing everything in its path. Buildings were falling like rain. It spewed out a bunch of green round rocks from its mouth.

"What are those?" I asked firing at the green round balls.

"Holy crap! Those are hunter ling eggs! Everyone kill them before they hatch!" Derk yelled pushing a button on his ear. I began to fire my C-14 Gauss rifle at the eggs, one of which exploded, releasing mini like Brutalisks with giant wings. These creatures came leaping toward us in a ball of furry and death.

My heart seemed to stop.

"Rod! _You missed!_" Leary screamed from my left. I turned to see him and the others racing toward me, the Brutalisk following close behind them. At first I was confused. _What do you mean I missed? How could he possibly know which of my thousands of bullets were missing the eggs? _Mark was waving his arms randomly above his head and yelling something at me. But suddenly realization came back to me_. Oooh… he's talking about the bomb I planted. Oh am I going to get it._

"Okay let's get out of here," Derk said, turning and running. I took a couple steps back and then began to pursue Derk. The others caught up quickly and ran alongside me.

"Whose idea was this again?!" Tenny yelled. "Oh wait I remember it was _Crip!_"

"Ay! I didn't drag your cask over here. You were the one to follow me!" Crip growled, and scowled at me. "And maybe if _Jingle _over there would have put the charge in the right spot, we might have been able to kill it!"

"No one told me where to set it!" I retaliated, glancing back to see the Brutalisk further behind. I smiled._ Aw, we're going to survive._ Any relief that I had just felt vanished as hundreds hunter lings came crashing through all the windows of buildings.

"Gaah!" I shouted. And then suddenly I was lifted from the ground. I saw the hunter lings slowly become smaller as I was pulled upward. I looked above my head to see the inside of a medivac. We were then drawn into the vehicle and brusquely thrown to the back. I looked up to see Derk flying through the hole on the floor and smash into my face, followed by Crip, Leary, Tenny and finally Mark. After lieing on top of each other for a few awkward seconds Derk lost patience.

"Get off me," he yelled throwing Crip to the side, on top of Tenny. Leary let out a loud grunt, while Tenny walked over and helped Crip up.

"You could have been a little more gentle," Tenny yelled to the driver. A very familiar voice came on the intercom and said.

"Oh sorry guys this is my first time actually lifting people off that quickly."

"Nicky is that you?" I asked

"Well yes Rod, of course it's me. Who do you think it was?"

"Well this is all a very nice and cute reunion, but if all you thoughtless, brain dead idiots didn't notice, _we got a spotter and a whole group of pissed scourges coming our way!_" Crip roared.

"What's a spotter?" Nicky asked.

"What does it matter? _Drive_!" Crip screamed. We began to quickly escalate.

"There is not enough time! You have to warp us out!" Leary screamed as the flying bat like creatures approached rapidly.

"I can't it's too dangerous," Nicky responded.

"We don't care, it is either die quickly through warp space or burn slowly be green acid!" Crip bellowed.

"Nicky just do it!" I yelled.

"No we can make it, were almost to space!" Nicky shouted back. The scourges were barely out of killing distance.

"Nicky, I am not planning on dying today. Hit the warp button!" Mark shouted, running to the front of the vessel. "If you won't warp then teleport!"

"Teleporting is even more dangerous!" Nicky replied. Everyone was shouting too loud to hear anything. The scourges were almost on us. About twenty meters and everything would be over. Ten meters. I whispered a last cry for help. A prayer. Even though I knew it was over. _God please let us live…_

And suddenly I was being stretched. Light was everywhere. I couldn't see anything and I felt like I was about to vomit. _My soul must be leaving my body._

Everything slowly came back and I could see again. Tenny was holding on to a pole, Crip laid on the ground in front of me. Leary was sprawled out on the seats, gripping a handhold. Derk was up immediately and marching over to Nicky with his shoulders tightened and fists clenched and Mark was sitting next to me at the back holding on to my arm.

"What are you looking at?!" he snarled releasing his hand from my arm.

"Sorry," I quickly said, looking away.

"Well everybody, I was able to warp us to the outer rim of our solar system. We will be arriving at our planet in roughly ten minutes. So sit back and relax," Nicky announced.

"Make sure you take your time. We don't want Ben to think we never went," Crip growled sarcastically.

"Oh really? I can go slower if you want," Nicky asked concerned.

"No!" We all yelled together.

"Oh, well okay," Nicky responded.

The room fell into an awkward silence. I dared a look at Crip, and found that he was glaring right back at me.

"What?!" I asked. Crip smirked at me.

"Want to arm wrestle." He rumbled.

"No." I replied.

"Heck, I'll arm wrestle you Crip," Mark said, excitedly getting up and running over to the table.

"Ten minerals on Mark," Leary said, sitting back on the seat.

"Oh I am totally getting in on this," Derk said, launching himself from the bench. "Twenty minerals on Crip."

"Tenny you want throw one in," Mark asked.

"Nah I don't bet. It's a waste of money," Tenny replied as he waved his hand in passing.

"Okay then. Leary, give the go," Mark said, turning back to Crip.

"Ready," Leary said, with a smile. "Set."

"GO!" Nicky yelled from the cockpit. Crip didn't hesitate as he took his chance and threw Mark's hand on the table.

"Ha ha!" Crip roared. "All shall cower before the great and all powerful Crip!"

"Now wait a sec that wasn't very—," Mark started, but Crip cut him off.

"No excuses, you lost and I won!"

"Leary was supposed to say go, not Nicky."

"Oh what does it matter, someone said go; you should have been ready." Crip retaliated. "You know being a _ghost _and all."

"How 'bout we fight right now," Mark spat. "I'll teach you something you won't forget."

"You dare fight someone stronger than you," Crip taunted. "Without your gun."

"You better watch your mouth Crip. It might end you up in a hospital one day," Mark hissed back.

"Alright ladies let's all calm down. We are now entering the inner atmosphere," Tenny said, holding his hands outward.

"Hey, what's so wrong with it? I don't mind watching these guys knock each other unconscious," Leary said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Attitude's like that get people killed," Tenny said, turning to Leary. "Now let's please just sit down and relax. There's been far too much fighting today."

"Yeah, I agree with Tenny. I mean we should be concentrating on how Ben and more importantly Clement will react to us not bringing any biomass back," I said trying to be reasonable. Everyone's face suddenly turned to horror as they all remembered about the biomass. Crip relaxed and said.

"Eh. What are they _really_ going to do? Sure Ben will act all "in charge" and "get mad at us"' Crip said. "And Clement will have a scientific breakdown, but in the end, nothing is going to happen."

"That may be true, but perhaps we should consider going back—" Tenny started.

"NO!" Everyone shouted at once.

"Okay, okay. Calm yourselves down. It was just a thought," Tenny said, folding his arms irritably.

"Okay we're now coming into view of our base," Nicky said, over the intercom.

"Oh, finally," Derk shouted, throwing his hands in the air. "I was afraid I was going to have to start eating myself to satisfy my terrible cravings of starvation."

"Huh. Derk brings up a good point," Leary said, holding his stomach. "I'm quite hungry."

I thought to myself and realized that I was famished as well. I looked up to see Mark hunching his shoulders and putting on a heavy glare towards Crip. I laughed silently for a second until I caught Mark's eye.

"What are you starring at punk?!" Mark yelled randomly.

"Oh sorry I didn't mean to—"

"Oh, oh _ooh_, of course you didn't mean to, you don't _mean_ to do anything! In that case you can't _do_ anything. If it weren't for _you_ we would have all the biomass we need!" Mark yelled in an outrage. "But no, you had to put the charge in the _wrong_ position! And because of your stupidity, we had to try not to get ourselves killed and bail! So thanks, for not meaning to do anything."

"Hey, Mark lay off will ya," Tenny stepped in. "This is his first mission. Give him some slack. We got out alive and that's all that matters."

"Lay off! Why should I _lay off_!" Mark was on his feet now. "People's lives are in danger and if you screw up, people _die_!"

"Yeah Tenny, let Mark yell at Rod. I think it's funny," Crip laughed.

"That's it I've had it with you!" Mark shouted.

"Everyone prepare for landing. We have arrived," Nicky announced. Suddenly Mark lunged and collided with Crip, slamming them into the wall. The ramp lowered to let us out. Crip threw Mark off of him and out the exit.

"You wanna play ghosty? Well let's play!" Crip growled. He sprung for Mark and began to pumble him in the sides with his fists. Mark sent several blows back.

"Stop antagonizing them Derk! We have to stop 'em before they kill each other," Tenny said, running towards the two raging terrans. Leary stepped out of the dropship. I followed him.

"Hey knock it off you guys!" Tenny said trying to pull Mark off Crip, only to get a kick in the face.

"I will jack you up so bad your _grandchildren _will feel it," Crip said, tossing Mark against the barracks. He retaliated in punching Crip.

"Guys seriously, your acting like little kids," I said. Tenny continued to try and break them up.

"Alright Tenny breaking them up might not be a bad idea," Derk said. Leary had lost interest and left towards the ghost academy. Glancing away from the fight I saw Ben walking towards us. I straightened up and put my hands to the side firmly like I saw in the movies. Derk and Tenny both finally separated Crip and Mark. Ben looked over at the four of them and back at me.

"So how'd it go?" he chuckled bitting into an apple.

"Well…we got out alive and I think Rod learned a thing or two, so very well actually," Derk said, still pushing Crip away from Mark.

"Hmm, so where's the biomass?" Ben asked, taking another bite in the apple. Crip decided to finally step in, pushing away from Derk.

"If Jingle hadn't screwed us up, we would have had enough to keep us upgrading against the Zerg for an eternity."

"So, you don't have any?" Ben asked folding his arms.

"Huh, take the hint dumb butt," Crip snarled. "What do you think?"

"No, sir," Tenny said, ignoring Crip's sarcastic comment.

"Huh… I don't wish to punish you, but you leave me with no choice," Ben said, chewing off another piece. He waited a few seconds before responding. "Eh you can all just go and…" taking a bite. "…sit on guard duty tonight, it being dusk and all. You will receive no sleep tonight. Good luck."

We all groaned and then stumbled off to the supply depots.

"Today is going to be a long night," I said hanging my head.

"Heh, welcome to the Orange Terran," Mark grumbled. "Where you don't get out of anything."

* * *

**EDIT: Hey everyone. This is just letting you know i have revised this chapter. Huh lately I have been very random when it comes to revising chapters. I kind of just pick one. So eventually I will get through all of them while continuing the story.  
**

**This revision consisted of mostly cheesy sentences and commas. The only big change is that I took out the part when Derk was laughing at Crip and Mark when they were fighting. I don't think it was in Derk's character to be so hysterical about something not funny. So anyways, thanks for your support and reviews. See ya :D  
**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

**Derk's POV**

I split off from the others and towards the Starport, which was a big building that was shaped like a triangle. It had a circular plate that moved up and down on the top. It had three legs that came out from underneath it that held the building up. _Great I cannot believe Rod misplaced that charge. Now we all have to pay for it. _

"Hey Derk where do you think you're going?" Leary asked.

"What does it matter to you?" I replied angrily. _Why does that jerk have to worry about everyone but himself?_

"Because I want to make sure that you—"

"Of course I'm still going to be on guard duty! How the heck do you think I could get out of it?!" I yelled back annoyed.

"Alright fine," Leary replied. "Don't get your pants in a knot."

But I was too far to care what he said. I stopped outside the entrance to the Starport. _I never usually go in here. This may be awkward, but I want to see Jenny_. I took another step forward and went inside.

There were several Viking pilots leaning against the wall talking. Weird to say but I had always admired them. They had a huge amount of skill being able to master the air and the ground; and when they transform to a plane from the ground mech unit it is pretty impressive. The twisting metal could crush an inexperienced pilot. And of course they are very trustworthy and dedicated.

They would go into the hardest missions, even when death was inevitable. They gained respect from everybody. Unlike hellions, who were disliked because of their eager to kill everything. Which were different from the Vikings who went into battle for their fellow comrades. They had something to fight for.

I nodded towards them and got a wave back. I headed past the raven pilots, who just scared me. Ravens were slower planes that shot hunter seeker missiles. The seeker missiles were round. They followed their target until in a range where they could immediately fly into them at mass amounts of speed. Causing an explosion that would eradicate everything around it.

Ravens could also drop auto turrets. Point defense drones were the third thing the ravens deployed. It was a defensive structure that would float in the air and shoot a laser at any missiles or enemy firing that could be happening.

Even though the ravens had their uses, I still did not like their pilots much most of which were cyborgs, or had some piece of wiring coming out of their heads. They talked in mechanical voices and didn't make sense have the time. You could be a raven pilot if you wanted, but most don't like hanging around them.

I continued on until I reached the place I wanted to be. And also the place I was kind of afraid to be, the banshee's. I walked up to a small group of them three or four. Some turned and smiled at me. Others rolled their eyes and stepped away.

"Hello, have any of you seen Jenny?" I asked awkwardly. A couple giggled.

"Yes, but she isn't here right now." The first one said.

"Where is she?" I asked very bluntly. They were obviously enjoying themselves.

"I don't know. Why do you care?" The second one asked, smiling. She looked me up and down.

"I want to talk with her." I said, folding my arms.

"Why would a big muscular stud like yourself want with a pretty young pilot?"

"You guys are being absolutely ridicules," I said face palming. The girls laughed.

"Okay, okay she went for a ride, that's all. She will be back in about ten minutes." A black haired girl said. "If you ask her nicely she might take you on a ride."

The girl winked at me. I rolled my eyes, and headed back to the supply depots. At the last second I heard them say something like "Aw he so cute, Jenny's lucky." I couldn't help but smile. Of course I didn't want to be considered cute, more like dangerous, strong, stealthy… but it was a compliment nonetheless, I walked outside noticing Jenny making her way toward the Starport.

"Hey, Jenny" I called to her. She turned and smiled at me.

"Hey Derk." She said. "What's up? I see your back, do you need something?"

"Well if you put it that way, I have guard duty tonight as punishment for not bringing any biomass back, so I guess I was just looking for some company before I have to go."

"Aw, well then." Jenny replied. "Let's go for a ride."

My mouth dropped and my heart stopped.

"Y-y-you want t-to, go no a ride with me?" I asked stupidly. _Well that quick_. _Why do I act like this around her? Was all my training for nothing? _

"Yeah?" She said raising an eyebrow. "Why not, were friends?"

"Oh, yeah of course! I just thought you were busy." I said rubbing the back of my head, in embarrassment.

"Huh, yeah right. Busy here? I get so bored I want to go _pick _a fight the Zerg." Jenny laughed, turning and heading to her parked banshee. "Alright, let's go then."

"O-okay," I said, hurrying after her. She opened the hatch and we both got in. She sat in the pilot seat and I took a seat next to her. She put on her headset and smiled at me. She turned away and started up the motor. She looked back and then I noticed I had been staring at her.

"Are you going to sit there and stare at me or are you going to put your headset on?" I quickly looked away and put it on.

"Heh, sorry," I said as she laughed and lifted up the banshee. "So when do I get to drive."

"Pff," she huffed. "When you go get training and become a banshee pilot."

"Aw come on now, it can't be that difficult." I replied.

"No it isn't, but I don't want to get sacked by Plank."

"Oh, please, as long as you're not shooting your own men, Plank doesn't care what we do in our free time."

"Mr. Plank trusts us, and we cannot keep that trust if we are doing what we know we shouldn't be." She said flying up and over the houses.

"Okay, okay. Only because you we have a goodie goodie over here." I said, chuckling.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Jenny asked glaring at me.

"Heh, I'm just kidding ya," I said, nudging her arm. She flew up and over a church steeple, then descended lower to the ground. She continued to hover above the houses and would occasionally turn around. After sitting down in an awkward silence I finally spoke up.

"So is this as fast as the thing can go?" I asked

"Huh, you serious?" She huffed, pushing a lever forward. The aircraft suddenly flung ahead. I was thrown into the back of my seat. Jenny laughed, swerving to the side, sending my head into the wall. I began to laugh hysterically, until she lifted up on another handle thrusting the ship vertically in the air. I let out a quick gasp.

"Gaah! Heh I think I get the memo," I laughed nervously.

"What? Too much for you?" Jenny said, obviously amused.

"Nah, heh. I just think we can, you know… slow down a bit." I said.

"Slow down? Oh heck we aren't anywhere near top speed." She snickered. Jenny unexpectedly swerved the Banshee straight down.

"Oh flip," I said putting my hand on my forehead. Jenny laughed shoving the lever forward. Every nerve in my body was immediately thrown to the back of my head. The ground began to draw closer and closer, as we dropped. I turned to see Jenny smirking at me. It was hard to keep the sudden fear off my face. I looked back to see our base become bigger and bigger, until finally at the last second she drew back on a pedal and lifted the Banshee away from the surface. I sighed in relief.

"Ha, wasn't that fun?" Jenny said. I let out a long and heavy breath. Jenny turned back to me. "Oh come on now, you go driving in those Hellions which are loads faster than this thing. Sometimes I think you guys are going to get yourselves killed."

"Flying and driving are two different things," I said, slowly relaxing my shoulders as she came to a landing.

I took another deep breath and stepped out of the Banshee. My head was thumping and as I was taking another step I tripped on my own feet. Regaining my balance I swung my hands out franticly until coming into contact with something solid. I grabbed this thing to keep me from falling over. I turned my head and saw Jenny holding her arm out, which I was grasping very tightly to. She looked back at me with a smirk on her face.

"Wow Derk, you're romantic," She said sarcastically. I quickly let go and blushed deeply under my mask. I smiled and walked off awkwardly.

"Hey," Jenny called. I turned around quickly. "I had fun."

"Yeah, thanks," I replied. I watched her stride off toward the Starport where some Vikings greeted her. I felt a quick jolt of jealousy, but then I realized that I had just spent a good amount of time with her. So I shrugged it off and strolled off towards the ghost academy.

"Hey Derk!" a voice called. _Ugh, can I please just get ten minutes to rest!_ I turned toward the person yelling my name "What!"

"I wanted to find out how your little date went," Ben replied, putting his arm around me. "I only wish you good fortune."

Ben squeezed me into his side with his muscular arm.

"You know I'm sure that Jenny is real fond of you. I've come to realize that. And I want you to know that I have given up." Ben said, letting go of me and raising his arms in the air.

"Bull crap," I said then stalked off in a different direction.

"Hmph, well then," Ben huffed. "Rest well cup cake."

I stopped walking. Anger started to boil inside me. I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists. _How dare he?!_ I began to turn, but stopped once again. I relaxed and continued to the academy. I was going to get a good night's sleep even if Ben would continue to harass me.

"Don't forget, you have guard duty!" Ben yelled behind me. I almost lost it. _Gaah! Seriously!_ I could hear Ben and his cronies laughing at me. I continued to march off towards the Academy.

After grabbing a couple things out of my momentary room, I walked passed Tenny, and the others. They appeared to be deciding where each one would be posted. They turned to me and invited me over. I continued to stroll away, ignoring them. _What was the point of having so many guards? It was very unlikely for the Zerg to attack anytime soon. And it doesn't take a whole army to alert the camp. Especially when the whole army are the ones guarding it! _

I approached the south end of our base, where the two bunkers sat. I could hear voices from inside the bunkers laughing. As I sat down on a large boulder I heard several dirty jokes take place._ Huh, typical marines. Why should I expect any less?_

I ignored them and looked out into the dark street. While I sat, I noticed lights from inside houses start to turn off. I began to relax. _If I am going to sit here all night and do nothing might as well make the most of it._ Suddenly my psionic senses perked up. Someone was approaching, from behind.

I sat still expecting Leary to march up and attempt to scold me for ignoring them earlier.

"Hey, what's up man," I heard Tenny say.

"Eh," I muttered. I wasn't in the mood to talk to him right now. His positive attitude was contagious.

"So… What do you think will happen tomorrow?" He asked. I paused for a moment, pondering on what a stupid conversation opener that was.

"Eh," I responded.

"Well, okay," Tenny replied, sitting next to me. "You know if we ask real nice, we might be able to get us transferred to Nartes."  
I rolled my head in his direction, and was about to respond with a sarcastic response when Tenny interrupted me.

"Now wait and think for a minute," Tenny began. "Hear me out. We have a good argument. Seriously look at our situation. No sign of Zerg activity appears to be happening, and we have over four ghosts here. That's absolutely unnecessary; we can explain this to him and ask for a transfer."

"Yeah, and you know what he'll do?" I asked rudely, angered by his stupidity. "He's going to rub his chin, agree with us, and transfer all of the ghosts _except_ us. Ben is the last person to let us off easy."

"Well, I'm not too sure, Ben likes Jenny doesn't he?" Tenny questioned. Hope began to rise in my chest. "So why won't he want to get rid of you?"

"Hmm that makes sense," I reassured myself. But to no avail, my heart sank. "Yeah, but—"

"Oh, come on Derk, you'll see your girlfriend again."

"Yeah, maybe. If Ben doesn't—"

"Oh, please, you really think Jenny has any sort of interest in him?" Tenny asked. I fell silent, deciding between what was more important to me. "And plus Derk… well I don't know how to put this kindly, but it's not easy to bring up a relationship and be a ghost at the same time. In fact it's almost impossible."

"Hmmph," I huffed, why did Tenny always have to be right. We sat in silence for a while. My thoughts began to wonder. _Why do I have these feelings for her? I am a ghost; I am not supposed to feel these emotions. It goes against everything I have been taught in the Academy. Ugh! This is what happens when you take breaks from combat. You get soft… I have to get back on the front lines. My emotions have to be hardened. I have to become a real ghost again. Even if it means seeing friends die. Even if it means… forgetting about Jenny._

"Okay, fine," I said, breaking the silence. "Tomorrow… we go back to Nartes."


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

**Rod's POV**

Shortly after being interrogated by Ben, Leary brought all of us together to discuss where we would be posted. All of us except Derk and Mark. Frankly I didn't care. Nothing he said to me was in any way nice. It was almost like I couldn't do anything right, but then again, he treated me better then Crip ever had.

"Okay, so basically we need to make somewhat of a perimeter around our base. You know, to make sure nothing can get in. So we have five missile turrets built surrounding the border of our base. We will both man each one. It appears that Derk has taken to guard the two main bunkers at the southern end," Leary said pointing out where they were.

"What's so important about missile turrets?" I asked.

"They can detect things that don't show up on radar, such as changelings and burrowed Zerg," Tenny responded, before anyone could let out a sarcastic remark.

"Wait I thought that was what that sensor building thing was for?" I said pointing to the tall tower. I had asked an SCV about what it did. They obviously didn't give me the full truth.

"No, the sensor tower identifies the presence of Zerg and pings their location on our locater," Leary replied, annoyed.

"But when the dumb critters burrow underground, they don't show up," Crip interrupted.

"Okay, Okay. It was just a question," I said.

"Huh, yeah, a dumb question," Crip growled.

"Alright!" Leary shouted. "That's enough. Let's focus on our objective."

"Pff, _objective_!? We have to stare at a screen and make sure that no Zerg signatures show up on it. Oh, so hard!" Crip rasped, sarcastically. "I could do that in my _sleep_!"

"Crip you're not helping," Tenny butted in. "Let's all just shut up and get posted!"

Crip huffed and marched away, followed by Leary muttering under his breath. I looked at Tenny. He rolled his eyes:

"I am going to go check on Derk. Would you go tell Mark to man a missile turret?" He asked, walking away.

"Yeah, sure Tenny," I replied, turning towards the Ghost Academy.

"Find one for yourself after. Just make sure no red dotted flashing exclamation marks appear on the monitor."

"Okay," I responded, and under my breath said, "At times it seems I am the only mature one."

_Great, now I have to deal with Mark. I wonder what he's going to say to me. Ugh, I can see him now "What Rod? Need me to hold your hand? I can show you how to use the missile turret if you want?"… I don't want to do this. _I walked into the vast building, my suit clanking against the metal flooring. The whole layout seemed to have a circular shape. I wondered around. The hallway went around in a circle fashion. It appeared that there was a large room in the center of the building with a door at the front. I approached this door with caution, hearing loud metallic sounds, with grinding gears in the room.

I opened it up to see huge claw shaped machines building what seemed to be a giant missile. I let in a deep gasp. There was a round opening at the top of the academy. This I guessed was where the warhead flew out of.

"And that my friend is a nuke," A voice came from behind. I jumped and twirled around. Mark stood in front of me, hands behind his back, amused at my astonishment. "What you see before you is twice the artillery that your military could ever muster. _And _built twenty times as fast."

"Heh," was all I could get out.

"And guess who gets to launch it?" Mark said, leaning in really close to my face. Mark then pointed to himself with a smirk on his face. "Me."

"Tenny says you're supposed to be on guard duty," I said, cutting right to the chase. "He wants each of us to man a turret."

"Yeah, yeah; and Tenny is the one in charge isn't he?" Mark said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"I'll go out and guard when I want to," Mark said turning away. "And as for you, I believe it is time to get in _your_ missile turret."

Reluctantly I followed him out, turning and getting one more glimpse of the rocket. For some odd reason, I felt that I was finally adapting to The Orange Terran. Their sarcastic remarks haven't really been getting to me. _I hope that if they see this then they will finally accept me and stop trying to beat me down._ If I was going to have to put up with all this chaos then I wanted to do it without being made fun 24/7.

"Alright Rod, I'm going to go check out the northern end. You go make yourself useful," Mark said, pointing at me. "And don't do anything stupid."

"I think you need to worry about yourself," I replied, angrily. Mark laughed and continued walking away. I gripped my fists. _I am really getting sick of him_. Thinking back in high school, I remembered all the kids who would call me names and point at me. I took a step forward toward Mark, and then stopped myself. _There has been enough fighting today_. I knew it would be worthless. He would kick my butt and make fun of me later.

I turned around and made my way to the closest missile turret in view. It had six missiles coming out of a rotating frame. This frame sat on the mettle square support. As I approached the structure a metal door slid open. The inside was big enough for two chairs and a large desk in front of it. There were holographic screens surrounding the room. The monitors had aerial maps of the area. A couple of them showed larger portions of my planet.

Some of the screens displayed what looked like space ships flying around above the atmosphere. Several of these ships looked like the hammerhead Battlecruiser that was here previously. One or two medivacs were floating about as well. I turned my attention back to the map of the base. Seemingly I was to look for red blinking exclamation marks. Which were supposedly Zerg signatures.

My surroundings eventually bored me, so I sat down, watching an almost frozen monitor. I rested my elbows on the desk and sooner or later put my head on my hands. After sitting for what seemed like hours I lifted my head, trying to keep myself awake. Then all of a sudden, I noticed a button to my left that said "Automatic" on it. This perked my attention. _How'd I not see that_? Next to it was another control that said "Manual". I smiled and hit manual.

Unexpectedly things began to move. The metal desk separated producing two levers and a bunch of more buttons. The monitor in front of me changed from space to the sky. The sound of the turret rotating stopped. I smiled. Grabbing hold of the first lever I moved it to the side. The monitor corresponded and all the stars in the sky moved to the left.

I let out a quick excited yell. The lever on the right had a big red button sitting on top. I pushed the lever forward, making the turret point further upward. Too excited for my own good, I hit the red button. A missile launched itself out of its canister. The rocket appeared on the screen. It went a good distance and then exploded. _It's like a video game!_

I held my finger down on the control and watched two missiles launch, followed by two more.

"Ha, ha!" I shouted, turning the screen faster to the right and firing the missiles. It seemed that the turret would never run out of ammunition. While I was having my fun I was yet to realize how much attention I would receive. A loud siren came on outside, and I heard tons of yelling and screaming. I stopped what I was doing and froze.

"Aw crap," I said out loud. The door to my turret slid open. I was abruptly thrust around to look into the enraged eyes of Ben.

"What in the name of Xelnaga do you think you're doing?!" Ben roared. I stared in horror.

"I was just—"

"Do you think this is a _game_?!" He yelled grabbing my chest and pulling it forward. Two inches from my face, he yelled, "I could be _fired _for this!"

"Look, uh I'm really sorr—"

"Sorry?! You're _sorry?_ Oh, just you wait! I'll show you what sorry feels like!" Ben yelled, raising his fist. I closed my eyes expecting the worst, when I felt Ben let go making me fall back in the seat. I opened my eyes and to my astonishment saw Ben laughing.

"You should have seen the look on your _face_!" He hooted, using the wall as a support. He continued to chuckle as he turned back to me. "No, but really, I am going to have to find some sort of punishment for you; ya know wasting ammo and all."

"Wait so, you're not… mad?" I asked, still baffled.

"Well, heh, not necessarily," Ben said, still snickering. He walked out of the missile turret, motioning for me to follow. "Anyways it appears that you are a danger to this camp and must be sent somewhere to rethink your actions. However I will consider the fact that you are in no way qualified to be on the field."

I gave him a blank look.

"So I shall send you and Nicky to the nearest military training base," Ben said turning back to me. Others began to gather. "That should be punishment enough. It's quite obvious that sending you to Ozuretole wasn't enough to eliminate your immaturity, now was it?"

"Hey, I'm mature!" I retaliated, pointing to myself.

"Oh please Rod, I'm certain that your friends can testify against you," Ben said, motioning toward Derk and Mark. "Now if you will please excuse me I have rather important business to attend to."

I glared at him as he walked away. I looked around to see what kind of attention I had gathered; Crip was hunched over a distance away, clearly still angry at Leary. Derk seemed to have come over, but was now walking back toward the bunkers. Most lost interest and left.

I continued to look around when I saw Jackson walking toward the barracks. I quickly ran over to him. _I haven't spoken to Jackson all day._

"Hey Jackson!" I yelled catching up to turned around, chuckling.

"So now you come and talk to me. I thought you made some new friends," Jackson said. "Guess you don't need me anymore."

"What?!" I asked, slouching my shoulders. "I thought that we were—"

"I'm just kiddin' ya," Jackson said, slugging my shoulder.

"Oh, few," I said, relieved.

"Ya didn't really think that I would let out on ya, right?" Jackson asked.

"Uh, Jackson?"

"What is it, pal."

"Ben says I am to go to some military training," I said concerned. "Do you think he was serious?"

"I'm sure he was, now come with me before you get yourself into trouble," Jackson said, leading me away. "Wouldn't want Ben to think you were slackin' on your job."

"Heh, yeah, yeah, but—" I started.

"Look Rod, Training ain't that hard," Jackson replied. "You go; they inject you with a shot, have ya run around a bit, and then send ya into battle."

"Injection? What's that for?" I asked.

"Oh they'll explain it," He reassured. "It gives you basic knowledge of the battle field, and how to do your job. They don't want to waste years teachin' ya this stuff so some scientist invented a way to give ya the information."

"How does it work?" I asked, worried.

"Look Rod, I don't know much about this here science stuff. All I know is that they took specimens from the Zerg and incarnated it into a shot for Terrans." Jackson said, stopping and turning towards me. "The Zerg hatch out of their eggs already supplied with all the battle training they need. They are born demons. So scientists took samples from 'um."

"Oh. What happens if it turns into some virus?"

"Rod! I'm sure we have enough technology to take care of a small infection." Jackson said, taking me inside the Command Center.

"Why are we—?"

"I'm taking you to see Ben. I think we need to clear up some details." Jackson said walking up the spiral stair case.

"Ugh, I am so sick of seeing this guy right now, can we please just go back—"

"Hush Rod, when we go in, you let me do the talking. Don't you say a word," Jackson said, putting his large finger on my lips. He banged on the door. A voice came from inside.

"Come in."

We opened the door and walked in. _Last time I was in here I was with Mr. Plank._

"Why, hello there Rod. You just can't get enough of me can you?" Ben said getting up from his large chair. Jackson chortled.

"Yes, yes. We were just here to talk about guard duty," Jackson responded.

"Why by all means take a seat," Ben said motioning us toward the many chairs that a lined the wall. We both did as we were told. "So, what about it?"

"It is quite simple actually, you mentioned Rod not being qualified to be on the field. Sense this is so, I believe he should be sent straight to the supply depots," Jackson said, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back into the seat. "Especially if he is to be sent to battle training tomorrow. He's going to need his energy."

"Aw, I understand, but unfortunately we need somebody to man the extra missile turret," Ben said, taking a seat for himself. "You know the Zerg, they take any chance they have to break through our defensive line. What if they were to sneak an overseer past our Battlecruisers? They could be dropping changelings left and right. If no one is manning the turrets, then we all die."

"And this is very understandable, I shall take his place for the rest of the night," Jackson said, patting his chest with his hand. "I've been on many guard duties and come to enjoy them."

"Huh, very well Jackson," Ben said. "But only, because Rod is not qualified. I want all my good men well rested. No matter how much they enjoy guard duty."

"Thank you Ben. We will be off," Jackson said, standing up. I followed him out the door.

"Well you two have a good evening. Enjoy it while it lasts. For who knows what could happen tomorrow, we all must be prepared for anything," Ben said, shutting the door behind us. We walked out of the Command Center.

"Alright Rod, you go get some rest. You're going to need it," Jackson said, strolling on toward the missile turret.

"Hey Jackson?" I said.

"Yeah Rod?"

"You didn't have to do that," I said, feeling guilty.

"Heh, no problem bro," Jackson responded. "You sleep well now ya hear."

"Okay," I said, jogging toward the supply depots. _Man, I wish I could take that university right now._ I lied down on top of my bed and closed my eyes. Tomorrow I am going to become part of the Orange Terran.

* * *

**So I know there isn't a lot happening in this chapter, but hey, everyone has to get through the boring parts.** **Please continue to review... **


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

**Derk's POV**

After the long hours of the night, the sun barely began to peak over the mountains. Using psionics, I took a look at my surroundings. People began to stir within the depots. I waited, expecting the loud siren to go off any minute. Not a second later the alarm went off, alerting the camp of a new day. Moans and groans followed.

I directed my mind toward the Starport. _Jenny was probably already awake_. _Funny that I didn't notice her get up_. I continued to stare down the long road in front of me. _Ugh, this sad little planet is really getting to me. I can hardly concentrate on anything anymore. Just wait, I'll be out of here in no time, as long as we can convince Ben to let us leave._ I sensed movement coming from behind.

"What do you want Bob?" I asked the SCV without looking.

"Uh… Tenny just uh… wanted you to go talk to him," He replied. I rolled my eyes and scowled.

"Can't that lazy dirt bag come get me himself," I responded, pleased at the SCV's unease.

"Just uh… sending a message is all… huh "gulp" sir," Bob said, shaking.

"Where is he?" I asked, still looking forward.

"He's at the… uh… uh… gho- ghost academy," He replied. I could smell the fear irradiating off of him. Deciding that I had messed with the SCV enough, I got up, passed Bob, and walked off toward the Academy. While strolling away, I picked up a sense of relief coming from him. I smiled, knowing that I still had somewhat of a reputation left.

As I approached the building, I noticed Rod dragging himself out of a supply depot. He yawned and looked over at me. I shook my head and continued on. _This military training is going to kill him. And I spent all that time trying to keep him alive._ _Pff_, w_hat a waste._ I thought kidding myself. Sometimes I actually felt bad for the kid. He was kind of fun to make light of. I mean it was so easy. My thoughts continued to wonder as I walked toward Tenny's room. Or at least where he keeps all his trash. Just as I was about to knock a voice came from inside.

"Come in Derk," Tenny said. _I suppose I should at least continue to practice my psionics. They feel weaker. That's not good. _I opened the door with my mind.

"Hey Tenny. You ready to go kick some Zerg butt?" I asked, leaning against the door frame. Tenny's little chamber was filled with junk. I always kept everything I had in a Craxium Receptacle. It was so much more convenient. All you had to do was scan an object and it transmits it into a small round cyber container. Expensive, but very useful. Tenny never seemed to trust or use them. If they were damaged, all your stuff inside was vaporized. I didn't think much of it though; the holders were made out of a Protoss element called Virax Expidicus. It would take a lot of fire power to break through it.

"We don't know that yet. The last thing Ben wants to do is help us," Tenny said.

"Yeah yeah, but Ben would much rather send us away then put up with our arrogance," I responded, confidently. "He's probably dying to get us out of here. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a Hercules Transport Ship coming to get us right now."

"If you say so," He replied.

"What's up with you?" I asked, annoyed. "You're not one to be negative."

"Well it's just I worry for Rod. Training is going to be hard for him," Tenny said, scratching his arm. "Don't you remember back at the Academy? I thought they were _trying_ to kill me."

"Oh come on now, your exaggerating. It wasn't that bad." I said. "Plus, this isn't Ghost training. It's just marine drills. Most of "Marine Training" is just a bunch of injections until your body can't get it out. Then they have you run around until you throw up. There's no _real_ training. It's all instillations."

"Pff, _I_ wouldn't want to be jabbed in my arm three times a day," Tenny said, walking out the door. I followed him, rolling my eyes.

"Look man, Rod will be fine," I said, walking outside.

"Are you sure we shouldn't ask to go with him?" Tenny asked, turning toward me. "We could keep an eye on him just to make sure he's okay."

"Aw _heck _no. Why do you care so much about this kid? This isn't the first time we've seen someone get drafted. Why are you acting up?" I questioned, grabbing his shoulders. Tenny pushed away.

"I don't know Derk," Tenny said, turning toward the Command Center. "There's just something about him. He seems different from the others, almost like he's hiding something. I think he knows more than I give him credit for."

"Well, now at least I feel more comfortable," I said, walking on. "But what could he possibly be hiding? Do you think he's infested or something?"

"No definitely not," Tenny said.

"Perhaps we should use telepathy to see what's up?" I asked, shrugging.

"Yeah right, you and I both know we could be shot for using abilities on our own men,"

"He's not Orange Terran yet, now is he?" I said, grinning.

"No Derk. I am not going to take the chances. I am loyal to the Orange Terran and want to keep the respect I've achieved," Tenny said leading us into the large building. "Let's talk to Plank. Maybe Rod said something to him or heck let's just ask him straight up."

"What? You think he's going to say anything. I am not even sure if he knows himself," I said following Tenny up the stairs. "Look bro, we're probably chasing after something that doesn't even exist. Let's just forget about it and pretend we didn't even mention anything. We'll be lucky if Ben even sends us to Nartes. He'll be suspicious if we ask for anything else."

"Okay okay, shut up will ya. We don't want Ben to hear," Tenny said, knocking on Ben's door. Using my mind I looked into the room. Ben was sitting on his chair like he normally does. Except this time he was talking to some general on a transmition screen.

"Ugh, go away. I'm busy," Ben shouted from inside.

"Ben, we need to talk. It's me and Tenny," I said, irritated that the one time I wanted to talk to him, he was busy. I could sense Ben's frustration, and yet it was as if he knew why we were here. I wasn't surprised.

"Not now, come back in an hour," Ben said. "Or your privileges will be stripped of you."

Knowing that we didn't want to make a fool of ourselves in front of a higher ranking superior, Tenny and I turned around and walked back down the stairs. I'm sure Tenny could feel the rage heating off of me. Normally I would have been able to control my emotions, but not being on the field for so long does its damage. I stomped my way outside, with hunched shoulders.

"One of these days I'm gonna teach that fool a lesson. I swear on my mother's grave that he plans to avoid me," I grumbled.

"Oh Derk, give the guy a break," Tenny said, slapping my arm. "Don't you believe in coincidences?"

"No!" I snapped. _Okay, not much longer now. I will be able to fight soon. I just have to wait a little longer. _

"Wow man, cool off a little," Tenny said, lifting his arms in defense. "Maybe you need to go see a medic?"  
"Pff, I don't need help!" I barked.

"Derk, you're making a fool of yourself. It won't hurt to have them do a couple scans."

"Ugh, fine!" I snarled, jerking around to face him and pointing my finger in his face. "But only because you won't shut up about it."

Before he could say another word I thundered off toward the barracks. _The medics better be here or someone's not getting out alive._ I walked inside and looked around. The place was near empty. A group of firebats stood toward the side and a couple medics were hanging out towards the back; my sister being one of them. I approached the medics, attempting to relax my shoulders.

"Hi Derk," My sister Teresa said, cheerfully. "What can we do for you?"

"I need you to scan me," I replied bluntly.

"Okay, what for?" She asked, looking tense because of my rudeness.

"Tenny thinks I am having anger issues. He thinks there's something up with me," I responded, folding my arms. "I need you to do a quick scan so he'll leave me alone."

"Well okay, I think I know what I can test for," She said, waving me over. "I need to grab my 2F30-Disposition-Scanner."

"Yeah whatever, just hurry please," I said, annoyed. _Aren't you supposed to have these on all the time?_

"Alright alright, Mr. Demanding," She said, walking off muttering something about all ghosts being the same. I huffed in response. I glanced over at a medic, who in response quickly looked away. I couldn't help but smirk. _Ahh, I love being me._

"Okay Derk, here's your scan," She said, pointing a rectangular device with a holographic screen on the front. A red beam came from the front of the scanner. This laser went up and down my body. Teresa glanced down at the screen, shrugging. "Yeah you seem fine."

She twisted away obviously angered by my abruptness. Suddenly feeling a quick tang of regret I decided to apologize.

"Hey," I said, immediately feeling embarrassed. "Sorry 'bout that."

She simply nodded and turned away. I rotated around and walked back from where I came._ See, now Tenny will have to leave me alone._ _I'm just fine._ After exiting the Barracks Tenny was now walking toward me.

"So, what how'd it go?" He asked, folding his arms.

"Eh, nothing's wrong." I said, feeling quite pleased. "Satisfied?"

"Hmm, you sure nothings—"

"Yeah, pretty sure," I replied, anger rising in my chest.

"Fine, whatever you say," Tenny said. Unexpectedly a loud voice came on over the sensor tower.

"All Orange Terran units report to Command Center 309 immediately. All personnel not positioned in five minutes will be terminated," The loud voice announced. "Again all Orange Terran units report to Command Center 309."

"Oh great; what now?" I groaned.

"Hey man, look at it this way, it's something to do," Tenny said leading the way. "Who knows, maybe Ben actually has something beneficial to say."

"Pff, maybe… in the afterlife," I said, following. We all gathered around outside the dome-like control building. I looked over to even see Rod waiting. _Hmm, bet he was having a fun time cleaning out the reapers den. Should've thought before firing out all thirty-five missiles. Will he ever learn? Eh, this training camp will be good for him._ And then I was abruptly pulled out of my thoughts by a loud voice.

"So, I have some important information to tell all of you. I have recently been given information regarding the position of our men on Nartes and Jinksole," Ben stated. My ears perked up, immediately interested. "They need help, and lucky for us the Red Zerg is concentrating on Nartes, so they are in no position to attack us. This leaves us with no reason to remain here.

"To add to this mess there is quite a lot of tension on the planet Corspe. The Teal Zerg has been acting very aggressive recently, so the Commander stationed there, planned on attacking a nearby Zerg base to keep them at bay. This backfired. The Teal Zerg were then enraged and went on a complete rampage, eradicating everything in their path. Along with their main base called Sieged.

"As of Jinksole they're being bombarded by Protoss forces. Our ghosts will be pleased to hear that I am going to be sending them there. Your EMPs will devastate their heavy archon, zealot based army. My marines and marauders will also be transferred to help take out the immortals.

"The war on Nartes is back and forth. I have spoken with several Generals on these situations and have come to a conclusion The Zerg on Nartes have been sending quite a lot of light armored units that my firebats and reapers can take care of. As for Corspe, they need air support. All banshees, ravens, medivacs and vikings will be sent there. Good luck to you.

"I have considered the fact that we need as much income as we can get so all SCVs here will be sent to our main mining facility on planet Mieshal.

"And of course we can't forget about the one or two men I will be sending to the nearest military training camp stationed on planet Silinder. Heh, you know who you are.

"Men; we are at war with two different races and three different armies. I am quite overwhelmed with all that's going on and am sure you are as well. The Commander at Silinder has understood this and very generously decided to supply us with a group of medivacs to transport our troops. They will be arriving this evening. I highly suggest you prepare yourselves. If for some reason from now until the transport arrives you are told to stay here, then I highly suggest you do not board the medivacs. Thank you for your time."

And with that Ben marched right back where he came from.

"Hmph, well Tenny. I guess you were right," I said, smiling. "We will finally be out of here."

"Heck yeah we will. I can see us now. Raining down EMPs on the blasted immortals," Tenny said, gesturing with his arms. Tenny continued on with his rein acting of the battle while I scanned the area. Most people seemed quite excited. Marines were howling with joy, reapers yelling in excitement, and then I passed over Rod. The look of horror on his face made me laugh. He seemed petrified.

I felt no sympathy toward him, however. We all had to go through with training so he would too. Perhaps that's why Rod was so immature. He hadn't been through combat preparation yet. Rod would come out a new man. I was almost excited to see how the kid would turn out. Curious on how he actually felt, I turned and walked over to him.

"Hey, Rod," I said, approaching the kid. "So, you excited little man?"  
"Heh," Was all he said. I slapped him on the shoulder.

"Aw it ain't that bad."

"Will I survive?" Rod asked, gulping. I laughed.

"Of course you will," Tenny said, almost like he was reassuring himself. "Everybody goes through training."

"You know as long as you don't get General Groff," I said, remembering the unconscious bodies lying around at his camp. "But I doubt he's even training recruits anymore. They've probably sent him somewhere more… ya know… important."

"Huh, well, whatever you say," Rod responded.

"You'll be fine," I reassured. "Come on Tenny, I want to make sure all your junk is ready. I don't want all five medivacs to be waiting on you."

"Yeah, real funny," He said, following me to the Ghost Academy.

"So, tell me bro; you still worried about Rod?" I asked.

"Course I am Derk," Tenny said, his excitement leaving him. "We can still ask you know."

"Oh come now Tenny, I doubt the kid will want us stalking him." I reassured.

"Pff, I don't think he's going to care."

"You really want to go stand around watching Rod train?" I asked, becoming irritated. "I thought you said you wanted to bash some skulls?"

"I do, but—"

"Tenny, we'll just tell them to keep us updated on how he's doing, because I don't want to waste time breathing down Rod's neck. The only thing that will come of it is make him nervous."

Tenny sighed. "I guess you're right."

"Yeah, I am," I said, turning back around.

"So, how do you think it'll be without everyone?"

"You mean like Crip and Jackson?" I asked.

"Yeah, you know. Like Jenny, and everybody. I mean we've been with most of this camp for a while now." Tenny said, motioning outward. "The last few missions we've had most these people in our area."

"I think it'll be different, but we've done this before. My guess is it'll be like it always is," I said. "Now let's go get ready to leave."

We made our way inside the building and separated to our separate quarters. I looked around noticing how empty my room was. _Well looks like I'm ready._ I laughed to myself. People liked to take everything they owned with them. I thought differently. The only things I ever carried around was my C-20 Canister Rifle and any other weapons that I had happened to be holding. Thinking of my weapons I decided to go through them. I pulled out my Receptacle. Looking through the screen I swiped through each entity. I clicked on my weapons folder and beamed out my Assassins X-300 Psi-blade.

_Aw, my favorite melee weapon. _Using Protoss technology, the Orange Terran were able to combine it with our knives and create a curved laser vane which ejected from the metallic handgrip. The blade came out at a curve making it easier to slit throats. These Terran laser blades were very similar to the Protoss zealot's Psi-blade. The only real difference was that theirs was larger and were activated telepathically.

I threw this on my bed and looked back through my holder. I continued scanning out all my weapons, going through each of them individually. After what felt like hours I beamed them all back inside my Receptacle and walked out my door. Mark sprinted passed me yelling in exhilaration.

"Hurry up Derk!" He yelled, throwing his gun onto his back. "The medivacs are approaching the atmosphere. They'll be here in seconds!"

I rolled my eyes, hearing him scream his victory shouts. I casually walked after him. I couldn't help but feel annoyed. _You're supposed to be a ghost. Grow up a little._ Surprised at my own anger I stopped walking. _Man, what's with me? Maybe something is going on? Should I go back to the medics?_ I shook my head ignoring my fears and strode onward. _Nah, I just need to get back on the battlefield. I'm sure of it._

And just as Mark had said, the medivacs were already landing. I smiled and made my way toward them.

"Yo Derk!" Someone yelled. I turned to see Crip blazing on his jetpack over to me.

"Hey Crip," I said, wondering what it is he wanted. He reached me and stopped. After looking kind of awkward he finally spoke.

"Well… it's been good working with you," Crip rasped, shaking my hand. I was taken aback and almost fell over in shock. "Hope to see you in the field again. Don't get yourself killed."

"Uh— whaa?" I stammered. Crip laughed, amused at my astonishment. I regained some composure. "Yeah, sure, but I don't think it's me we have to worry about."

"Heh, see ya later chump," Crip snickered, flying off toward the medivacs.

"Wow," I thought out loud. _That's the first_. I turned back to the medivac labeled _Jinksole_. And then unexpectedly right as I was about to board, a voice rang out of the crowd, grabbing my attention. I turned to see my sister running toward me.

"Derk! Wait!" Teresa yelled. She reached me within seconds. _Hmm so she wants to say good bye. _I felt a quick shudder of joy, but changed drastically as I saw how worried she looked.

"Derk I missed something." She said out of breath.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"When I scanned you; I didn't see it at first," She said still panting. "You have a medical condition that needs to be treated."  
"What?!" I yelled, enraged.

"Derk… you can't board that medivac." She responded. I began to shake in fury. "You have to stay here; just until you're treated."

"Never!" I roared. I could feel my psionics rising. My mind seemed to be electrified. Teresa's white titanium armor began to tighten together. "I'm fine!"

She let out a gasp as it crunched against her arms. The main breastplate pulled itself in and the lights on it burst out.

"Derk, please stop," She begged, gasping. Rage overwhelmed my body. _I am not staying here!_

"I am getting on the medivac whether you want me to or—" I started, but suddenly interrupted by an EMP going off. All my psionic energy was drained of me. I dropped my sister and fell to my knees. Looking up I saw Leary holding out his gun. Wrath filled my body_. He is going to die for interfering_. I stood up and right as I was about to lunge for him, a loud pew went off and I was thrown onto my back. All went dark.

* * *

**And another chapter. Please review. I would like to know what you guys think. :D If you have any suggestions that you think are too long for a review then please PM me. I love feedback!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

**Rod's POV**

I looked towards Derk and Tenny. They were making their way toward the Ghost Academy. Even with their encouraging words, I was still very nervous about leaving. I thought about my family. _I haven't even talked to them at all. Heck, I haven't even thought about them. Are they worrying about me? I'm sure the news about all this chaos has spread around. Perhaps I should quickly go talk to my parents. _I turned and began walking towards the parking lot. Hopefully my car was still there.

"Hey where in the world do you think you're going?" Leary yelled. I stopped. Dread filled my body. _Now of all times! I was just about to get away!_

"I well, pff," I said leaning on one leg and throwing my hands in the air. "I was just going to grab something out of my car."

"Huh, you're a bad liar Rod. I don't even need to use psionics to figure that," Leary said. My face turned red in embarrassment. "Tell me the truth and perhaps I might let you go."

Seeing no way out of it I replied, "Alright, fine, I was just going to say good bye to everyone." Leary gave me a blank look. "You know like my _family_."

"Hmph," Leary scoffed. "Very well let's go."

"Hey now wait a minute, I can manage by myself," I said defensively.

"Your not part of the Orange Terran yet. Therefore you cannot be trusted," He said folding his arms. "And we wouldn't want you to become distracted and miss the medivac now would we?"

"Ugh, fine!" I grumbled, unlocking my car. "But I'm driving."

"Hmph, very well," Leary huffed, "But only because I couldn't stand driving such an old vehicle."

"Hey this thing is in good shape," I argued, getting into the car.

"I wasn't talking about the condition of the contraption. I meant it is extremely outdated," Leary said, sitting next to me. "I mean seriously this thing can only go up to two thirty? I've seen small children drive faster than that."

"Oh, yeah right," I said, waving my hand at him. I pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road.

"Okay, I am sending a transmition to Ben telling him that we will be arriving back in time for departure. He's going to wonder why we're leaving," Leary said, tapping some buttons on his arm. "And you're going to be the one explaining everything."

"Oh come on, I'm driving," I said, turning the car right.

"I could care less what it is you're doing. You're the one who wants to go kiss your mother good bye," Leary said detaching a device from his arm and putting it onto mine. The gadget clamped itself onto my forearm. A small holographic figure extruded out of the top.

"Well, well. Where in the world do you think you're going?" Ben questioned, annoyed.

"Oh, hey Ben," I said, awkwardly.

"This is not a time for a reception! Tell me what the reason is for you're leaving or you can expect severe punishment for your disobedient and ignorant actions!" Ben yelled. I seemed to shrink in my seat.

"I just… wanted to say… goodbye," I stuttered, very embarrassed now.

"Well you best hurry, for if you're not back by the time the ships arrive I will be sure to hang you by your spinal cords and skin the living flesh off your _bones!_" Ben roared, ending the transmition. I turned my head toward Leary. He looked very amused and took off the gadget on my arm.

"I guess we better be quick," He said, as I parked the car in front of my parents' yard.

"Could you do me a favor and just… stay here," I asked, hopefully, but only to be turned down.

"No," He replied bluntly. I rolled my eyes and stepped out of the car. We walked up to the door. I rang the doorbell, thinking of what their reaction would be. Hearing someone approach the door I looked up. My father opened the door.

"Hi Dad," I said.

"Son! Where've you been?!" He yelled, pulling me into a hug. "Sharon, your son is back!"

My mother came running in. She joined my father in squeezing the guts out of me. I was a little embarrassed at first, but realized I may never see them again. So I hugged back.

"Why have we not heard from you?!" She asked. "Ever since the school has been put on lock down and everywhere near evacuated, we've been worrying our hearts out."

"I was just," I started.

"All the TV said was that there had been a shoot-out with some mobsters dressed in Halloween costumes." My father said. _So that was there cover up story. _

"And who on Urthe is this?" Sharon asked, turning to Leary.

"I'm his body guard," Leary said, smirking; obviously enjoying the attention. I rolled my eyes.

"Mom, Dad, this is Leary. He is one of the mobsters in Halloween costumes." I said motioning toward him.

"What! Sharon, call the police!" Dad said, stepping toward the ghost.

"No no, wait!" I yelled, "He's on our side."

"What are you talking about? The reporter said that they were all thugs trying to kidnap college students."

"Come on, you really believe that?" I asked. I started to say something when Leary stepped in.

"Look I apologize for the inconvenience, but we are short on time. Rod here is coming with us to military training," Leary said, putting his arm around me. "I'm positive he will be telling you everything over transmiliticory communication. Now if there isn't anything else, we must be off."

"It's okay, I agreed," I said, as Leary lead me away from my stunned parents. "I'll be sure to call you some time! I love you!"

Leary shoved me into the car and got in the driver's seat.

"I'm sorry Rod, but the medivacs are reaching the atmosphere and issues due to your slow driving, I will be taking the wheel." He said, flooring the gas. I was thrown to the back of my seat as he drifted out onto the road. Leary flew down the pavement at a very high speed, dodging another car pulling out of their driveway.

"You're going to kill us!" I yelled in fear. He calmly looked over at me.

"What's your deal kid? Never driven' this fast before?" Leary laughed. "In fact I could do this with my eyes closed."

"No! Please don't!" I shouted. And to my utter horror, Leary leaned back in the seat and to what I could see, closed his eyes. I let out a screech, starring at the street. We were still riding down the middle of the road, approaching base. We came to an abrupt stop in front of the bunkers.

"Well that was exciting," Leary said, getting out of the vehicle. "Now come on before we—"

Leary stopped dead. It took me a minute to see what he was looking at. I felt my eyebrows fly to the top of my head and my jaw drop to the ground. There in front of us was Derk levitating what looked like Teresa, in the air. Her armor was crunching itself together and it looked like she was gagging. Leary didn't hesitate as he pulled out his gun and shot something in Derk's direction. Blue light blinded me. I quickly closed my eyes, only to open them again second later. A loud pew came from Leary's gun and to my utter shock I saw Derk's limp less body jolt backward. He lay almost lifeless on the ground. I dropped to my knees in horror at what I had just seen. _Did Derk just… die?_

* * *

_**Hey! Really sorry about the longer wait, and such a short chapter...No really... sorry 'bout that...Please review! It helps! **_

_**P.S. I really wanted to get this one up so it has not been revised. Expect a lot of grammar mistakes and cheasyness.**_

_**Edit: Okay I revised it. It should have less grammar mistakes and flow a little bit better. Still not my best work, but oh well.**_


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

**Derk's POV**

Darkness surrounded me. I couldn't see. Where was I? I moved my arms around, hoping to find something to grab onto. The air was very dense and humid. It was like I was in a moss temple. _Perhaps I am._ I reached out with my mind, trying to find the walls. _There has to be something. Why can't I find anything?_ And then suddenly a loud voice hummed inside my head.

"Derrrrrrk Treeeeeeton."

"What? Show yourself?!" I yelled. "What do you want?!"

"Fear not, terran," the echoing voice said. "My name is Falcicadar Eletraz."

"Why can't I see you?" I asked, still franticly searching around in the darkness. My psionics seemed useless. And then unexpectedly a Protoss warrior stepped out of the shadows. It had purple cloth rapped around hips and shoulders. The alien had brass colored armor covering its upper and lower arms. A long piece of cloth extended from its face so all you could see was its eyes. This… was a Dark Templar. I was surprised enough that the creature would even let me see it.

"There isn't much time," Eletraz said, approaching me. I stepped back.

"Keep away from me you Protoss filth," I snapped. Not a moment after the words left my mouth did the Templar disappear in a puff of pitch black smoke. And suddenly he was in front of my face.

"The prophecy was foretold and must be perceived. Your resistance is impracticable and will be in vain." The Dark Templar echoed. I was swiftly sprung into a spiraling wave of shades. I appeared to be falling. It seemed never ending. All emotions and feelings were stripped of me. I felt nothing. But as if a nuclear explosion went off I was jolted out of the experience and landed hardly on the ground. I moaned in agony.

Pulling myself off the ground, I looked at my surroundings. Light shined off of the Zerg creep covering the ground. The purple gray substance appeared to be alive. Moving in waves, the ooze-like matter spread across the dirt. I glanced up to see a gigantic Hive in front of me. It had five large tentacles curling inwards. This giant Zerg fortress stood at least fifty stories high.

Around me stood more Zerg structures. These slimy compositions were all over the place. I reached for my weapon. Unfortunately it didn't seem to be there. I gasped in shock. _This isn't good._ Sweat poured down my brow as I viewed many Zerg monsters gathering. I quickly went for my knife. Yet again nothing was there.

In desperation I sprinted forward, hoping to catch the beasts off guard. Noticing that they didn't take any sign of me, I stopped. _What? Am I cloaked?_ I looked down at my arms. They were still visibly there. Psionicly, I checked my settings on my suit. Nope cloaking was off. Remembering that there was Zerg still in front of me I jerked my head up and ducked to the ground. On instinct I went for my gun again. And of course it wasn't there.

The Zerg still hadn't appeared to move. I slowly breathed in and out. _What the heck are they doing?_ I crawled over to the side of a Spawning Pool, a large cylinder-type structure filled with green gas. In hopes of having some form of cover. And then suddenly a figure walked out of the Hive. My heart skipped a beat.

_How could this be?_ I starred in horror as Rod walked up to a hydralisk and petted it on the head. The monster towered over him and I was afraid it would rip him to pieces right then and there. I flinched forward wanting to help, but was surprised to see the snake-like creature do nothing.

_What sort of cheap prank is this?_ I'd had enough. These monstrosities were going to die. I lunged forward. But just as I reached Rod I was sucked out of the vision. Everything was dark. Again. But, then I heard something.

"The prophecy has been beheld. I have done all I can. The rest lies with you, Derk Treeton." The voice reverberated.

Light blinded me as I opened my eyes. I rapidly through my hands on my face and yelled in irritation. My eyes adjusted and I looked around the room. Still angered by the light, I rubbed my eyes. I was lying in a medical chamber with monitors surrounding me. _Oh great what did I do this time. _Attempting to ignore the vision I had just seen, I thought back to what might've happened.

_I was probably on another nuking mission. I always seemed to hurt myself in those. _Shaking my head I looked at my self, trying to find any sign of infestation. Nope, my skin color was the same and I had no tentacles sticking out anywhere. All in all I looked fine.

Glancing over at the monitor again, I looked for some sort of date. _Eh, it won't help me. I never know what day it is anyways._

Thinking of my armor I fearfully looked down to see what I was wearing. Irritably I didn't have a shirt on and a white blanket covered my legs. Lifting the sheets I saw that I was in a pair of military cameo jeans. _Well at least I got something on. _Without my suit I felt naked. Considering I partially was, but still, not having my suit on made me nervous.

Finally getting bored I stood up and walked over to the computer. _Why am I here?_ Looking through some files I noticed a folder named, _Selethicks_. Realization came flooding in, yelling that this was the name of the injections given to me in training. _They told us these were safe!_ Tapping the folder I looked inside. There was a long list of medical gibberish that made no sense to me.

Continuing my search for information I found a folder called _Dangerous Mood Swings._ I opened it revealing a document titled _details._ This opened a file loaded with information on it. I scanned through the paragraphs noticing a lot of "dangerous" and "lethal" words. Footsteps came from down the hall. Curiosity got the best of me as I psionicly cloaked myself.

I continued to read, finding out that the Selethicks contained a very treacherous substance called _Hyucicle_. It stated that the particles inside would arose the host's emotions, mainly anger. This chemical produced by the Terrans long ago was supposed to be an element put into the brains of people who had no sanity; reducing the person's nerves so they could be operated on. _Why would they use this for the Military?_ Hearing the steps grow closer I quickly I read on.

Researchers continued looking into the substance to find more information regarding why it helped people who were insane. They found exactly what they were looking for and decided to implant it into Selethicks. This would hopefully help maintain the Ghost's ability to remain calm.

It worked for a time, but on occasion they would get a Ghost who was driven crazy and would go on a killing rampage. Mostly targeted were the ones they cared most for. If caught early, Hyucicle can be removed/replaced and the victim would move on with no further problems. For most, this chemical isn't hard to find. The victim will be engaging in severe mood swings, making it easy to pick them out.

The door to my room opened. I stiffened and remained cloaked. I could sense the shock and fear radiating from her body. I waited for her to run off down the hall before becoming visible again. I closed the program and lied back down on my bed. I wonder when she'll be coming back. _Hmm, maybe I should go retrieve my gear?_ I put my hands behind my head. _Naa, I'm probably in enough trouble as it is._

After lying there for what seemed like an hour, I sensed several people running down the hallway. I smiled, imagining their reactions. There was the same medic that was here earlier, a man in a tuxedo and a marine. Their worried expressions were priceless. They came barging into the room, just to see me laying there with my hands behind my head. They sighed in relief.

"Where were you!" The medic yelled. I chuckled.

"I'm sorry, but perhaps next time you should give the patient something to do when they wake up. It gets awfully boring in here." I said. "Now if you'll be so kind as to bring me my equipment and some food I would be extremely pleased."

"Very well," The tuxedo guy said. "And since we found you, I am no longer needed. I will send a nurse to get you something."

"Hmph, so you going to tell me what's going on?" I asked, watching tuxedo guy and the marine walk out.

"All will be explained, but first we need to run some more tests," The medic replied, approaching the monitors.

"Pff, why didn't you do the tests when I was out?" I questioned.

"You have to be awake for these ones. It's how the brain works," She said, pushing some buttons. A large oval-shaped scanner moved over my head. A green laser ran up and down my body. Another round machine lowered above my skull. Head fit inside the round machine. The second scanner made a loud beeping noise and then lifted away.

"So, are you going to tell me what's up now?" I asked, losing patience.

"Relax ghost, I'm almost done," She said. After a couple minutes I sat up and turned to her. She was sitting in front of a computer looking at the results. "Okay, so when you were in training they should have given you Selethicks, which are the injections they give ghosts, am I right?"

"Of course they gave me Selethicks, and yes I know all about Hyucicles," I said. Not mentioning that I only knew what I had read. "I want to know how I am functioning now and what I did."

"Huh," she sighed. "Very well, but I am only allowed tell you how you're doing at this point. I am not authorized to convey what happened before."

"Yeah whatever, so have you taken them out yet?"

"Well, we had orders from your commander to replace them. So that's what we did."

"You mean to tell me I still have a chance of going insane?!" I said, aggravated.

"No, after you have problems with Hyucicles once, it is near impossible to have further issues. You are one hundred percent ready for combat."

"I'm not so sure; I have obviously lost some memory. How can you be so certain that I am ready to be out on the field?"

"I am fully and completely confident. Your memory will return in a couple days, as well as anything else you might've lost."

"So you were wrong when you said I was one hundred percent ready," I responded, annoyed at her mistake.

"Well, by the time you get back into battle you'll be fine," She said, embarrassed.

"Hmph; reasonable," I said, standing up. "May I set off?"

"Yes, as soon as you fill out this pamphlet," she said handing me a packet. I rolled my eyes and grabbed the papers.

"You have all my information on the computer, what the crap do you need this for?"

"Look, it's just procedure," She replied.

"Pff, _it's just procedure_," I huffed, signing my name. "It's just stupid, that's what it is."

I threw the pamphlet back to her and marched out the door. She followed me.

"I expect you have a dropship waiting?" I asked, anticipating the exact opposite.

"Well, not exactly," She said. "We have called one to pick you up, but it won't arrive until later this evening."

"What time is it?" I asked, walking down a spiraling flight of stairs. "Time zone Forty Quad Terran Period?"

"Just after noon," She replied.

"Lovely," I said, sarcastically. "Just lovely."

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**Hey! So I finished another chapter. :D. I'm not sure if this one took longer than usual because I wasn't paying any attention. So... heh, hope it didn't. Please review! Especially all you bums who sit back and read without reviewing! Even if it is on the negative side. I want to KNOW!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

**Rod's POV**

"I ask that you all stay seated until we reach our destination. Thank you and have a wonderful flight," I heard the pilot say over the intercom. I was riding in a medivac heading to Jinksole. They were to drop me and Nicky off at Silinder to where we would be trained. I wasn't excited in the slightest.

I sat at the back. Right in between to terran untis. They were twice the size of a Marine and had what looked like a very large grenade launcher at the end of each arm. They were covered in black metallic armor and had several pictures of skulls painted on their chests. Their helmet covered their entire head and the only thing you could see were two bright red eyes glowing out from a narrow slit. I was told that these were Marauders.

He must have seen me staring at him, because he looked down at me and said in a deep voice, "What you lookin' at".

I quickly looked away and responded. "Sorry."

"Huh, that's what I thought," He said, laughing as he turned away.

"Now don't be actin' like jerk Booze," Another one said, "You were just like 'im once."

"I was not," Booze protested, twisting angrily toward the other. "You've always been da one hidin' behind me! _Ah look it's a Zerglin'_ you'd always scream and then come runnin' back."

"Ay, now that don't count! We 'ad just entered the trainin' camp when there was an outbreak in da lab!" He argued, leaning across me to Booze.

"O' course it counts," Booze said. "I never did nothin' like that!"

"Well 'ow 'bout we settle this right now," The Marauder said. "Orange terran style."

"Hey you two loud mouths back there. Sit down and shut up, your rocking the ship." Mark yelled. Both Marauders huffed and turned away from each other, muttering.

I let out a long breath. We rode in silence. Now that nothing was happening I thought back to what had happened back at camp. Horror struck back into my head. I had tried to forget what happened. I kept picturing Derk's body flying limply backward. I was so shocked Leary had to carry me onto the dropship.

I continued to let my mind run wild. _Am I going to have to see this kind of stuff all the time now? What will happen after training? Will I see everyone else die? What if it's worse! The Zerg are sure will be a lot more gruesome. How will I survive? Ugh why did I let myself get dragged into this? Why have I been so accepting? It's almost like I was born for this. What am I doing here? I don't want to see others die. It was hard enough watching movies. _

_Aw, movies. Me and my family would always sit down on Friday evenings and watch the craziest shows. I just want to go home. _I could feel the tears water up in my eyes. _No! I can't cry. Not here and not now._ I sat up straight and looked in front of me. There was a Marine slouching on a bench with his hands behind his head. It made me giggle.

He glanced up and I quickly looked away. I could hear him mutter something, but I couldn't make it out. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep. This stinky medivac was driving me nuts. I sat with my head leaning on the wall for what appeared to be hours when out of nowhere the dropship shook heavily. I opened my eyes and jolted up.

"We are proceeding to teleport within Silinder's atmosphere," The intercom voice said. With nothing to grab on I wrapped my arms around my suit and shut my eyes. But this time the feeling was different. I wasn't being stretched, like when Nicky warped us. In fact I suddenly heard a loud crack and then I felt my entire body crush together instantly. Immediately after feeling this everything stopped and went back to normal. I glanced around to see everyone sitting where they had been previously. It was as if nothing had changed. Booze noticed my shock and snickered.

"Huh, yuh okay kid?" The Marauder said, slapping my back. I went tumbling forward onto my face. The whole medivac lit up in a chorus of laughter. Even Tenny, who had taken Derk's tragedy the hardest, burst out. Embarrassment filled my body. Blood rushed to my head. And I sat back down.

"We will be landing ETA five minutes," Intercom lady said.

"Ok now hold up! You mean to tell me that we are wasting time landing for these fools?!" Mark screamed at the pilot. "Why not just beam 'em down?"

"Orders are orders. I don't make them I just carry them out. As you should, so sit back and shut up." She said, angrily. He huffed in response. I sunk in my seat embarrassed. If it were to keep Mark off my back I would _jump_ off the ship. But now I might not ever see him again. So it didn't really matter. I slouched, not wanting to leave the medivac. We suddenly came to an abrupt stop. I was almost thrown across the floor again.

"Kay, get off," The pilot said, bluntly. I pulled myself up and dragged my feet across the ground onto the ramp. Looking behind me I saw Nicky excitedly following me. _We're going to get ourselves killed._ I turned back and walked the rest of the way off the dropship. The moment I had exited, the shuttle lifted from the ground and was halfway through the atmosphere.

I looked around at my surroundings. The place was bustling with movement. There were several groups of people running around camp, others seemed to be brawling. All in all I was completely out of place. I had no idea what to do. While aweing at the camp I didn't realize a man approaching me from behind.

"Hey, what in tarnation do you think you're doing?" The man yelled. I jumped in fright, turning around. "As long as you're in my zone there will be _no _standin' around. Do I make myself clear private?!"

"Uh—yes, sir," I responded franticly, attempting to stand at attention and salute. The man huffed.

"Put your arms down. You two must be the new recruits we're receiving," He said. "Lovely. I am Seargent Turner Hans Baker. You will refer to me as Seargent Baker. You will do what I say and when I say it, am I clear?"

"Uh, yes sir," Both me and Nicky said.

"Well good. Follow me and I will explain your duties," Baker said. "Starting tomorrow you will begin the Anecode Assessment. This is where they take you in, plug your brain up with cords and ask you questions. This will determine how much you know. Proceeding the assessment you will then be injected with First Class Selethicks. These will give you information needed for combat. Everday following you will be injected with them until your brain can't get rid of it. This process can take up from two days to two weeks; depending on the structure of your mind.

"Then you will proceed to be inserted with Second Class Selethicks and then Third Class Selethicks. Some say that this could kill a person if given so much information. This is not true. We use Selethicks with every single military unit and only have minimal casualties. All the information will come naturally and easily. You'll find yourself knowing things you didn't know before. Like how to fire a gun, or how to survive in difficult situations.

"Even more forcefully you will know the names of different types of Zerg creatures, things like that. If you are _really_ so worried about this then you can talk to our scientist Hank Ioney and _he _can explain it to you." Baker stopped in front of a flight of stairs and turned to me. "You do not want Hank to explain it to you. It is possible you will not leave his lab alive."

"Um… okay," I said, frightened.

"Now back to what I was saying. After you have been given all three Selethicks you will proceed to the Seargent Major Groff who will then teach you in the arts of combat. Basicly training the body instead of the mind. Selethicks can only take you so far. You may _know _how to fight, but you have to teach your body doesn't. That's what Seargent Groff is for. Injections can only train you mentally. Any physical aspects will have to be done, hint, physically."

He stopped talking for a moment as we approached a metal door. Seargent Baker stepped forward and knocked loudly. Streams of gas spewed out of the corners and the door split into two, opening an entrance into a room.

"Enter," A female voice said, seeming to come from behind a large chair at the end of the room.

"Lieutenant, we have a couple more recruits. I want to send them around the camp. Let them get a feel for it," Baker said, with his hands behind his back. "Do you wish for someone to give them a tour?"

"I appreciate your willingness to consult in my approval, but sense we have been receiving so many new members and stating the fact that I have talked to you about this before, you do not need to ask me about every single little detail," She said turning her chair to face us. My eyes flew to the ceiling as I gawked at her beauty. "However this is not a museum_. _This is a training camp. I do not want a couple uninformed recruits wondering the grounds, unaware of the danger they could potentially be in. So no Seargent I do not want them by themselves. Please retrieve someone to go with them or otherwise, go yourself.

"Yes ma'am," He replied. "It will be done."

And with that we headed back where we came from. Baker made his way down the stairs and outside. I followed him. Looking over at Nicky I noticed that he wasn't wearing any armor. He was simply in his green shirt and jeans that he had worn ever sense we left our apartment.

I didn't realize before at how much taller this armor suit made me. I was at least a foot higher than previously. I looked to see what the Seargent was wearing. He wasn't in any armor either. Baker simply wore an orange military suit, with pockets down the sides. He had a number of medals and ribbons on the front that I could see, and a couple symbols on his upper arm. Seargent Baker glanced back at me.

"Well you're not going to need that suit here, let's go down to the barracks and get it off." He said, like reading my thoughts.

"Will I get it back?" I asked, concerned.

"Oh trust me son, after you're through with training, you'll never want to see this thing again," He said, gesturing toward my armor. We made our way to a barracks. One like I had seen back on my planet. We walked inside, passing a group of newly trained marines, as noted by the seargent.

He sent me into a room very much like the one Tenny had shown me earlier. The only difference was that this time I was taking off armor. Not putting it on.

"Alright step in the center; you know how this goes," He said. _Ugh, I wish they had easier and faster ways to do this_. I did as I was told. A second later the machines began to move, reaching for my arms. They started to cut the welds, and take each piece away. It wasn't long until I stood half naked, shivering in my blue shorts.

I looked up to see the large metal door shift open. Seargent Baker threw me a new pair of military tan pants and shirt. I quickly pulled on the shirt and looked down at my trousers. Feeling embarrassed I glanced awkwardly up at Baker. He nodded to me, obviously expecting me to change into them.

"Aw come on man," I pleaded. He rolled his eyes and turned around. As quick as I could, before Seargent changed his mind, I yanked off my shorts and threw on the tan jeans.

"Alright let's go," He said, marching out the door. I quickly ran after him, feeling uncomfortable in the large clothes.

"So where exactly are you taking us now?" I asked, looking over at Nicky.

"I will take you to someone who can show you the base. Following your tour you shall be sent to Corporal Sludge for a physical exam. This will tell us about how much physical training is needed for you. We don't want to overdo it." He said. I walked after him in silence. _Great. Ugh, what the crap have I gotten myself into?_

* * *

**Hey! Okay so I know that I took a while on this one. Heh, I have no excuse. But sadly this is probably going to be the amount of time it takes to update. Sorry. I will continue to wright, and hopefully quit this random lazyness I've been having. Heh. Well enjoy!**

**P.S. I wanted to get this up ASAP so unfortunately... It has not been revised. So it may suck. Sorry. I will revise it and update. :D **

**And of course! DON"T FORGET TO REVIEW!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

**Derk's POV**

After finally getting the nurse off my back, I made my way down toward a small cafeteria. It took a bit of wondering around to find, but for a ghost with psionic powers, it isn't very difficult. I approached a medium sized counter machine. Looking at the holographic screen, I looked for something good to eat.

Different types of food and beverages showed up, which consisted of a lot of meat. My eyes scanned through the different types until I found what I was looking for, grilled Ursadak tenderloins.

"Mmm," I mused, selecting the meat. I turned around, walking over to a table. Taking off my mask I inhaled deeply, enjoying the fresh air.

"Excuse me, are you authorized to be down here? All patients need to check out of their rooms." A girl said from behind.

"Look lady, I already checked out," I said, not even facing her.

"Well I'm going to need your name," She replied. I twisted my head to look at her.

"What for?" I questioned, annoyed.

"Have you ever even been to a hospital before?"

"Course I have," I said, thinking to myself. _Have I?_

"Then you should know we don't just let our patients wonder the halls. If you need something then your medic should bring it to you," She said. "Now what is your name?"

"Derk Treeton," I growled, angrily. "Now go away and leave me alone."

I got up and walked over to the counter where my food sat waiting. Reaching in my pocket I pulled out my Receptacle. I scanned out some minerals and handed them to the cashier. Picking up the giant plate, I took it back to the table. The medic still stood there carrying some type of monitor.

"What do you want now?" I asked.

"This says that you are still currently unstable and just got released," The medic said. "I don't think you should be wondering about without someone watching you."

"Oh please, I'm fine," I said, remembering the incident that I had caused earlier. "Plus, I am leaving this evening anyway. So I won't be "wondering your halls" for very much longer; now if you'll excuse me, I am starving."

I turned my back on her and looked hungrily at my food. The nurse huffed and left. I sighed in satisfaction. _It's about time. Goodness, who do they think I am some sort of untrustworthy recruit?_ I began to eat ferociously at the tenderloins. The taste was indescribable. I hadn't had such delicious food in months. Most soldiers never really do.

Concluding my meal, I stood up, putting my mask back on and strolled out the door. Psionicly I looked for the starport, where my shuttle would be arriving. It didn't take long until I saw the large structure.

Following my senses, I made my way toward the building. Finally exiting the Hospital, I saw where the starport and other spaceships lay. After having a good look around, I sat patiently on a bench.

_Well I guess it's a good time to practice and make sure my psionics are steady. _I floated some boxes around, knocked some peoples' hats off and continued to stretch and broaden my mind. _Ugh, this is going to take an eternity._ And as if my will was law, a medivac's loud engine entered the atmosphere. I smiled.

"It's about time," I said.

I stepped forward, as the ship approached the ground. _After several weeks of misery, I will finally be on my way to Jinksole. _I took in a deep breath, stretching my back. _I can't wait to smash some Protoss skulls._ The large shuttle hovered over my head. Looking up I watched the hatch open up. I could feel my body lift from the ground, as they beamed me onto the medivac. It was a sensation that I would never get used to.

Opening my eyelids, I scanned the room. There were a few soldiers grouped at the back. _Hmm, must be more reinforcements._

"Sup," a marine said, awkwardly. I rolled my eyes, taking a seat. They all turned back to each other, whispering. _How old are these guys; four?_ I turned my head towards them and listened to their conversation.

"Hey, I heard about a dispute over Plank and the Green Terran," a marine said. "Knowing Plank, we're going to end up fighting them too."

"Oh man, I know," Another said. "Plank has to pick a fight with everyone he encounters. I think he needs to take a chill pill."

"Agreed," the third marine said. I clenched my fists. _How dare they?! Without Plank the Red Zerg would have annihilated us years ago!_

"I believe it's time for a new leader. Plank has been in long enough."

"I say we start a riot."

"Yeah, let's show everyone who Plank really is," The second marine said.

"A coward!"

I stood up and made my way over to them. I'd had enough. As I walked over, I noticed the look of fear in their eyes. _Hmph, these guys were no more than a group of ignorant recruits. They didn't know the first thing about Mr. Plank. I shouldn't bother my time with them. Let them think what they want to._ So to not look stupid I continued my approach, but stepped passed them. I looked out the back window, turned around and walked back to my seat.

The group of marines seemed dumbstruck. I heard them whisper about how they thought that "they were going to get it." I chuckled to myself. _Heh, they'll man up soon enough. Everyone always does._

Suddenly the thought of Rod hit my head. And the dream I had had the other night. _Ugh, please don't let me think about that._ But the more I dwelled on it, the more my mind was sucked into the vision. _What did that Protoss dark templar show me? Is that Rod's fate? _I thought for a moment. _No, the Zerg would never infest someone as pitiful and week as Rod._

Wanting very badly to think of something else, I directed my thoughts to Jenny. _Uh sweet Jenny._ I shook my head. _No, I must forget. She is gone and I will never see her again._ I knew this statement was invalid. I would defiantly see her again. Unless one is killed, over time you will often see familiar faces. The Orange Terran like to keep the same people in the same few sectors. You have a better fighting force if the soldiers know what's going on.

Grab two different people, put them in different scenarios, wait a month, put one of them in the others circumstance, and they'll have trouble. If you keep them in their own situations, you have fewer problems.

Orange Terran reason that this is our advantage. We figure most army's don't care. They station men wherever they want and that's that. In addition, we don't have to waist as much time transporting everyone around. It's kind of nice.

"Attention all militia, warping into Sector Gjin ETA two minutes," The pilot's voice said, over the intercom. I grabbed onto a poll hanging next to me. In about a half hour I'll be hammering my gun into some Protoss face. _Huh, can't wait._

A second or two later the ship sprung into space at the speed of light towards its destination. Jinxsole.

The ship slowed and came to a stop outside of a large blue planet. I thought back to old memories of the place. Memories of death. Lots of death. _Well, heh, lots of Protoss deaths. _I smiled again, excited. _With any luck I'll be put in the same station as Tenny. That'd be a blast._

Our ship hit the world's atmosphere and we were instantly thrown into a barrage of firepower. Blue lasers flashed by, left and right. I tensed as a large explosion came from nearby. Looking out the window, I saw a Viking detonate into a million pieces.

"Grab onto something, we're in for a bumpy ride," the pilot said. I had forgotten how terrifying this was; flying through the air with absolutely no control of whether you live or die. If you get shot down, that's the end of it, your dead. There is nothing you can do about it. Quite scary.

We continued our descent, soaring passed other planes until finally the medivac leveled itself out; now gliding a good distance above the ground.

"Prepare for departure," the pilot announced. I stood up, stretched my back, and readied my gun. _Here we go._ And suddenly my body was, seemingly, thrown downwards.

All around me was a blur. Marines were firing left and right. The Protoss army appeared to be caving in all around me. Turning left I saw a Zealot running in my direction, yelling alien gibberish. The Protoss warrior had a long face and no mouth. He wore a red cloth around his arms and had a piece of thread around his dreadlocks. His eyes blazed teal, but with no pupils. Surely not human.

I shot my C-20 canister rifle at his face. He continued his assault towards me without even a flinch. _Ugh, frikken shields. _Growling in anger I pulled a lever on my gun, aimed down the sight of my scope, and blew his bloody head off. The Zealots body altered itself into a fine navy mist and his soul lifted into the air.

But as I watched his body disintegrate, another Protoss warrior swung his psi-blade from behind. Fortunately for me, I was able to sense him and narrowly dodge his attack. Retaliating, I quickly grabbed us upper arm and using his weight against him, flipped him over my back and onto the ground.

Before he could react, I yanked my knife out of its sheath and slit his throat. The laser seared all the way threw his shields killing him instantly. Again the alien's body disintegrated into the air.

Psionicly sensing hostile movement from behind, I rolled backward just in time to miss a psi-blade to the back. The Zealot stumbled forward, obviously surprised. The warrior spun around in anger and charged again. This time I decided to attack straight on. Bad idea. The Protoss easily knocked my knife out of the way, and retaliated by swinging down hard onto my shoulder.

I could feel the burning sensation as the blade hit my armor. The Zealot kneed me in the jaw, throwing me backward. I recovered swiftly and fired a round of lead into his chest. Fortunately for him, his shields protected him from my attack.

He lunged forward, attempting to finish what he started. I anticipated his attack, lifted myself off the ground, and kicked with both legs into his stomach. He toppled backward. I took the advantage to fire another round into his torso. But to no avail. The bullheaded warrior rose back up.

I dashed toward him in a rage. He swung his weapon toward me. Easily I ducked out of the way, and grasped his arm. I pulled quickly and watched him fall to the floor. But instead of simply shooting him, I dropped down next to the Zealot, grabbed his head and smashed it into the dirt. I repeated this several times, until he finally died.

"Unit QI9872X, this is Lieutenant Mullfur speaking. I am in command of your zone. Your objectives have been updated," A voice said in my mask. A screen came up in my view. It displayed a map of the area and some objectives. I was use to this kind of thing. Everywhere you go there is a different set up. "I will be giving you your orders."

"Roger that," I replied.

"Let me just update you on our situation here. As you can tell we are pretty pinned down. You will join a small force of a special elite group of ghosts. Looking at your history I've decided that you're quite capable." He said. I continued firing at the Protoss warriors as he continued to speak. "You will meet up with them in five minutes. The location is displayed with a ping on your mini-map. I expect you to be there. Additional orders will be given."

"Yes sir," I responded, immediately running in the direction of the rally point. _Huh, this'll be fun._

* * *

**Hey what's up! Thank you for your patience. I am glad to say that I have at least revised this one once! Sense I didn't do it last time.  
**

**Anyways here is another chapter. I would really like to know how I did on the fighting scene. I don't know whether to say I am good at it or not. So PLEASE tell how I did in your review, which I am SURE your going to do... right? **

**Also just for fun, which character do you like to read about more? Rod or Derk?**


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

**Rod's POV**

I yawned.

"Hey, marine guy," I said, dragging my feet after him. "Are we almost done? You know me and Nicky still gotta go talk to that Sludge guy for a physical exam and I am rather bored. So how 'bout we—"

"Okay, look kid, I don't want to take you around anymore than you do, but I have orders. So will you please shut up and follow me to the end?" The marine said, turning around to face me. "We're almost done. I just have to go show you the locker rooms and then we can be finished."

"Alright fine," I groaned. "Not like I have any other choice."

"Pff, look at it this way, you're not training right now, so be happy."

"Yeah Rod, isn't this place just fabulous!" Nicky said, excitedly.

"I don't know why you're so ecstatic. There's nothing _fabulous_ about this place. We're basically walking to our deaths!" I said, annoyed. _Why is Nicky so stupid?_ "Even _if_ we survive training, then we'll be thrown into an endless battle with giant monsters! You really think that this'll be fun?"

"Hey buddy, war has its high points," the marine interrupted. "There's no better feeling than to watch the Zerg run for their petty lives."

"Yeah, if I don't die the second I step onto the battlefield," I mumbled, hanging my arms.

"You always this negative? How do you live with yourself?" the marine said, opening a door that lead inside the main building.

"I am not negative!" I said, in defense.

"Oh please, what do you call it?" He responded heading down a hallway.

"I don't call it anything. I am simply stating facts."

"Uh, whatever you say," the marine said, opening another door. "Okay this is where you will come every evening after your physical training, which will mostly consist of running, pushups, working out; etcetera, etcetera."

"How long will I be doing this?" I asked.

"Doing what?" the marine responded.

"Like staying here. Training," I said, following him inside.

"Eh, it depends on the persons thinking capacity and learning capability," he said looking at me. He must have noticed my blank look because he continued. "Basically how strong your brain is. Everyone can grow, so if they are having trouble with the injections, then they will probably have to take some other variety of implants until their mind can function properly."

"Oh don't worry about it kid. It's not that big of a deal. You'll be fine," the marine said, caring on. "So to answer your question, the average person spends two to three weeks here. Then they ship them off to war."

"Two to three _weeks_?" I gasped. "How could I possibly learn that much in such short a time frame!? I've been in school for ever and have barely made it past calculus. And my muscles, how do I have any chance of getting stronger. I am _not _taking steroids. I would have to be here for _years!_"

"Calm down kid. Look, you'd be surprised at how well Selethicks work. It's a bit overwhelming, but after the first couple days you get used to all the knowledge coming in. Your mind adapts," the marine reassured. "And as for your strength, there is certain chemicals and tech in your suit that will automatically enhance your muscle growth rate. I am not an expert on the stuff, so if you're _really_ curious go talk to our injection specialist Hank Ioney. He'll explain it to you for hours."

"Heh, sounds fun," I said, sarcastically.

"Well anyways, after you come in the locker room and change clothes you're free to go eat at the cafeteria I showed you earlier. Then you can go sleep or do whatever you feel like. But during the day you have to give your full attention to your trainer," the marine said, leading the way out of the locker room. "It's really not as bad as it sounds. Especially once you get to actually fighting in real combat. It can be a lot of fun… most of the time."

"Heh, so now do I go for my exam?" I asked, nervously.

"Yup. Do you remember the way?"

"Huh, barely," I responded, sheepishly.

"Alright follow me. But remember, I was only given orders to take you through the tour. Don't expect me to lead you everywhere you go," he said, walking back down the hall and up the stairs.

"So… I never asked your name," I said.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I am unit 343Q9 also known as Pole," he responded.

"First name or last name?" I asked.

"Eh, I can't remember. Going through Selethicks and being in the military as long as I have, you tend to forget little things like that," Pole said, continuing down, yet, another hallway.

"Your last name isn't _a little thing_," I said, shocked.

"Oh well, it doesn't matter," he responded, approaching a glass door. Pole slid it open and motioned for me to walk inside. "This is it. The test won't take too long, so when you get done you're free to wonder the base. Get a feel for it."

"Heh, okay," I said, rubbing my hands together. I did as he said, and went through the entrance; Nicky not far behind. There was a desk with a girl in a white outfit sitting behind it. I approached her awkwardly.

"What is it private?" The girl asked, not even glancing up.

"Well uh, I am here for—"

"A physical exam?" she asked. "Thought so."

I was about to respond but decided against it.

"Please have a seat to your right. You'll both be called in shortly," The girl said, writing quickly on a parchment. I looked over at Nicky, who had taken a seat next to me. He didn't seem very nervous at all. He sat twiddling his thumbs and mumbling to himself. _How can I let Nicky go through with this? If I know I am going to die, then he for sure isn't going to last very long… We've got to get out of here._

"Pst, hey Nicky," I whispered.

"What is it Rod?" Nicky responded, loudly. I horrifically looked up at the girl, hoping she didn't hear. She continued writing on her piece of paper, so I turned back to my friend.

"Shh!" I said. "Okay, we need a battle strategy to get us out of here."

"Why?" he asked. "If we don't get the physical we can't go through with training."

"No I mean we need to get out of this _entire_ mess. You know how to drive a medivac, Xelnaga knows how, but anyways; we can jack a ship and you can take us back to our planet," I said, getting excited. _This could actually work!_ "Sense the Terrans said that there wasn't any Zerg there, we should be fine. We'll go back to college and get a degree—"

"No Rod. These people need our help," Nicky responded. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "And what the crap is a Xelnaga anyways?"

"I don't know, it's something I heard Crip say. But that's aside the point. We're going to get ourselves killed out there."

"Well what about Derk, Tenny, Leary and all them? We can't just abandon 'em?" Nicky argued.

"They can take care of themselves. How could we help?" I asked, horrified.

"Well that's why I wanted to be a medivac. So I can heal all the injured warriors. I _want _to help," Nicky said, leaning closer to me. "Now I know I don't understand everything about flying, Ben had just given me a temporary injection or something like that, but I know if I come and train, I'll be able to—"

"Rod Lifferjingle?" someone said from behind the desk. I looked up. "Come with me. Sludge is ready to see you."

I suddenly went stiff. _Oh crap. They're ready now?_ I stood up and followed the black guy through the door behind the white girl's desk. He was wearing white as well.

"Now I don't normally tell people this, so keep it between you and me, but Corporal Sludge is being very grumpy today, so do what he says without question. You'll be done in no time," the man said, leading me into a small room with a large machine hanging over a bed type structure. It looked like some sort of thing they used in the movies to mutate humans into monsters. "Have a seat on the bed and Sludge will be with you momentarily."

I nodded and looked around the room. There was a computer sitting on a desk next to a wall with a lot of needles lying beside it. Containers aligned the wall with different looking fluids in them. I breathed slowly in and out, staring at the needles. I sat for a couple minutes until a man walked in the room, shutting the door behind him.

"Okay let's jump right into the test. I need you to lie back on the bed," he said, grabbing a syringe off of the counter. "Sit back for a moment and relax while the machine scans your brain."

"What?" I asked, scared.

"Just relax, if we hurry through this, you'll be out in a jiffy," Sludge said, preparing the syringe. I lied back down and looked up. A green laser began lighting up my face. "Please do not look at the light. It could potentially blind you. We wouldn't want that now would we?"

I quickly looked forward away from the scanner, afraid for my life. As the machine continued its process, Sludge was typing something on the computer.

"Alright pal, sit up," he said, bluntly. I did as I was told and then unexpectedly he stepped toward me and shoved the needle into my leg.

"Agh!" I yelled. He drew out some of my blood and took it over to another contraption. "What the heck was that for?! You could've warned me!"

I grabbed my leg, shocked at what he had just done. I looked up to see the man place my blood into a holder which took it inside the wall. A couple seconds later it came back out, to which Sludge retrieved it.

"Hmm, okay that'd be all," he said, pulling me off of the bed. "Now go back where you came from and tell the other kid to come in."

"Hmph, fine," I mumbled, rubbing my leg again. I marched the way that I had come until finally make it into the waiting room. "Okay Nicky, you're up. Walk down that hall and it's the third door on your left."

"Okay then, see you in a sec," Nicky said, walking past me.

"Alright, I am going to go and well… I'll be back," I said. "Come find me later."

"Sure thing Rod," he said, cheerfully. I nodded to him and walked out the door. I walked back down the hall and wondered around a bit. I didn't know exactly what I was looking for. I just didn't want to sit down and wait for Nicky.

_Ugh what am I going to do about him? He wants to stay and join these guys. What is he thinking? Back home we have something to live for! Here we'd just be fighting for someone else's cause. It's not like I would be protecting my family. I wouldn't even be anywhere near them!_

Suddenly I bumped into someone. Looking up I saw a man with large shoulders and a slightly smaller right eye.

"Watch where you're going shrimp!" The man yelled in a hoarse voice. I am getting real sick of these "Orange Terrans" who think they're so big and bad. But to avoid conflict, I simply apologized and walked past them. "Yeah that's right little pick, just keep on walking."

And I did just that. _Man these people need to relax. Seriously, is all these worlds filled with gruff, rude, pigheaded douche bags? _I turned down a hall and headed back to where I had left Nicky. _I hope he's done. And now after some time to think about it, he'll hopefully agree that this is no place for us and will come back home with me._

* * *

**Why hello everyone. Here is another chapter for you. Sadly, even after revising it, I didn't feel very good about this one... If you guys would tell me what you thought about it in the comments it would make me very happy. :D Was it choppy? Did it jump around to much? Anything would be useful.  
**


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

**Derk's POV**

Following the target on my mini-map, it led me across the battlefield toward a less active combat zone. I stopped suddenly when seeing a large immortal force moving in. _Ugh, great. Just what we need._ The crab like aliens blasted their guns franticly toward me. I ducked under a rock, firing an EMP in retaliation.

Lifting my head up, I saw a small squad of five ghosts closing in on the immortals. They launched several more EMPs and brought down their entire wrath upon the weakened Protoss. _Hmm, looks like I found my team. _I sprinted quickly in their direction, as they finished off the last of the immortals.

"Hey, are you the squadron I was told to meet up with?" I asked, reaching them.

"I don't know, are you unit QI9872X?" a ghost responded.

"Indeed I am."

"Then yes, welcome to Alpha Team Ghost Squadron," the Ghost said, shaking my hand. "I am Unit LK9903P; you can refer to me as Squad leader Caps. But anyhow, we have orders to raid the Red Zerg's gold mineral expo. We were just waiting for your arrival. And now that you're here, let's get to it."

"Alright, we better not waste any time," I said, turning back to the battle.

"Ghost Alpha! Let's go, we have Derk. Move out!" the squad leader yelled, leading us away from the Protoss. "Okay so we have a medivac waiting on us back at the outpost. We need to get there A.S.A.P."

I followed the Ghosts up and over a hill, passing several groups of Marauders. We trekked across the blood stricken ground for a few minutes until finally reaching a cluster of bunkers. Missile turrets aligned the outpost. I headed toward the medivac hovering above the ground.

"Alright ladies, let's _move!_" Caps yelled, waving us forward. Beaming up onto the shuttle, we all took a seat. "Okay, now that we have a minute lets jump right into things."

I turned to look at the crew.

"So everyone, say hello to Derk Treeton," Caps said, gesturing toward me. "He is our new squad member and I expect you to treat him with the upmost respect. If you don't… I fear for your life."

I nodded in greeting.

"Hmph. What's so special 'bout 'im?" a broad shouldered Ghost challenged. "Looks to me like he just got out of the training pool."

"I take it you're the pig head?" I snickered. "Pff, well everyone family has one."

"Now you watch your mouth, if we weren't in the middle of mission I'd knock that smirk right off your face!" the man yelled, standing up.

"Sit _down _Valen!" Caps shouted, stepping directly in front of the Ghost. The soldier reluctantly obeyed, muttering something under his breath.

"Now that we've all settled down, how 'bout you all introduce yourselves?" the squad leader said, gruffly. After waiting awkwardly for a couple seconds, a short soldier rose up.

"I am Misha Miroslav Yakovley," he said, in a thick Russian accent. "Happy to 'ave you."

Following Misha, a skinnier Ghost stood.

"Hey, my name's Cus," the ghost said, shaking my hand. "If you need anything don't hesitate to ask."

The final man approached. He had large shoulders, similar to Valen's, but while Valen was shorter, this Ghost stood taller than even me.

"They call me Skullbone," he said, arms folded. "Can't wait to get started."

"Course," I said, nodding. Caps stepped forward, ending the introductions.

"Okay, now that we are all familiar with each other, let me explain how this is going to go down. Our orders are simple; completely flatten this expansion. And sense there is only six of us, we're going to need a little extra fire power," Caps said. "We have five nukes at the ready. So first things first, the only way into the expo is guarded by photon cannons. We'll launch two nukes to destroy the cannons and any sort of forces they have."

"Wait a sec," Valen stepped in. "If these are _gold _minerals, then I'm sure they'll have quite the army waiting for us."

"I'm glad you brought that up. Plank is sending out two other attack squads, one filled with Maruaders and the other marines, to draw the Protoss forces away. This should give us enough time to crush their base," the squad leader replied. "So we had better not screw this up."

"Are we supposed to kill all their builders as well?" Cus asked.

"Yes," Caps responded. "Well, if we can. After those first nukes drop, the Red Protoss will be alerted. Which means it will be harder to kill the probes. But if we're smart, we can place the bombs in such a place that when the probes flee, they'll run right into our missiles."

"Okay so where do you want us to launch them?" Misha asked.

"We shall put one directly on top of the Nexus and the remaining two off to the side, in case the workers try to run away," Caps said. "Now I can almost guarantee that there will be a few zealots coming our way. You Ghosts, who will not be setting the nukes, will have to defend the others with your lives. For if they do not hit, our operation will not be cost effective. We will have wasted thousands of minerals, and the other two squads will have done virtually nothing."

"Wait, so if I am setting the nuke and there's a zealot running directly toward me, I can't cancel the missile and save myself?" Cus asked, concerned. Caps tensed.

"If you cancel that missile, those zealots will be the last of your worries. I'll shoot you myself," our squad leader said, angered at the soldier. "The only thing that will stop those bombs from dropping is if you die. I will not stand to have a troop of cowards who can't trust the very people defending them."

"Yes sir," Cus replied, gulping.

"How will the Protoss see us?" Skullbone questioned, changing the subject. "We'll be cloaked the entire time."

"Perhaps you don't know the Red Protoss as well as you may think. They are the most paranoid aliens out there. Trust me, it wouldn't be worth killing an observer even _if_ you see it." Caps answered. "They'll probably have tons of them flying around.

I slowly began let my thoughts wonder. _I hate observers, those stupid invisible Protoss fliers. If only I could make them all disappear. Heh the Protoss would never be able to detect me or any other cloaked units._ Hearing my squad leader continue to talk, I adverted my attention back to him.

"So, Bone and Misha will be launching the first nukes. Then I want Derk, Cus and Valen to advance. You guys'll set the next three. The rest of us will protect you," our leader announced. "I'll be defending you the entire time."

"Caps, wait. If I may, can I switch you places. I am much more comfortable—" Caps cut me off.

"No Derk. You have your orders," he replied, bluntly.

"Entering Protoss territory," the pilot declared. "Reaching destination ETA thirty seconds."

"Okay everyone, get ready," Caps said. We all stood up and walked to the center of the ship.

"Alright ladies, let's see whatcha got," I said, still angered at Caps.

"Pff, let's just hope you don't embarrass me," Valen said, readying his gun.

"Huh, yeah maybe… if you can keep up," I replied as we warped down to the ground. Instantly my instincts kicked in. I looked up to see a small hill covered with green plants in front of me. We all quietly crept up the mound. Reaching the top, I moved some bushes out of the way, revealing a small valley, with several Protoss buildings.

There were a couple of gateways, which were basically a Protoss version of a barracks. A couple diamond shaped structures with several rings rotating around them. These were the pylons. Numerous cannons guarded the Nexus. And of course there was all the probes mining out the golden minerals, which stuck diagonally out of the ground.

"Okay then. Let's get to it," Misha said, slapping Bone's shoulder and proceeding forward. Skullbone followed him and without a moment's hesitation, aimed his gun towards the photon cannons. Not a moment sooner did a loud adjutant voice ring in my head.

"Nuclear launch detected."

We all sat in anticipation, waiting while the two missiles neared the ground. I looked up to see them plummeting toward Jinxsole.

"Everyone get down!" Caps yelled, followed by an outrageously deafening explosion. Not soon after did a second eruption project from the valley.

"Whew!" I yelled, in exhilaration.

"That's how it's done!" Cus shouted, covering his ears.

"Hey! What do you guys think you're doing! Move let's GO!" Caps yelled, outraged. "Get those nukes set!"

Instantly I remembered my objectives and rapidly advanced forward, passing Bone and Misha. Getting in range I stopped and aimed my C-20 rifle at the Nexus.

"Cus! Valen! Take the sides!" I yelled, holding down the trigger. I looked to the side of my vision to where I saw a bar slowly fill. I just had to wait for it to finish. Then the bomb would hit. Aiming down the site of my barrel I heard Protoss Zealots approaching. _Aw crap. This isn't good. How are they here so soon!_

"You Terrans will be annihilated under my blade!" one of them screamed. I continued to hear gunfire and more shouting. _Aw come on guys!_ My eye sight didn't stray from the bar. _Halfway there._

"Misha, check you're six!" Bone yelled._ Not much longer._

"I need 'elp over 'ere" he responded.

"Caps cover Derk! Misha needs my help." Bone shouted._ Almost there! Come on!_

I heard an unexpected scream in pain. Everything shouted at me to hit the cancel button.

"Bone!" Caps yelled. I could make out the sound of a snipe. Something was wrong. They needed my help. _No! This nuke is going down!_

"Stay there Cus!" Misha shouted. "It's too late!"

"Bone, are you okay?" Caps asked.

"I'm fine."

Finally the bar filled and I could hear the loud roar of my nuke I had set. Lifting my gun up I turned and ran the opposite direction, away from the valley. At the edge of my vision I saw Valen and Cus running with me. The shockwave from the explosions knocked us all forward and onto the dirt. I quickly got on my feet and continued sprinting. After running back over the hill and onto the other side I looked around to see what I had missed.

"Is everybody okay?" I asked, counting out how many of us there were. And sure enough all five of them survived. Unfortunately however I heard only two explosions. Irritation suddenly gripped my body. _I had to sit through that whole thing, tense, nervous, and I didn't let up! So who was it that chickened out! _"What happened?!"  
"We'll talk later, but for now, get in the medivac," Caps yelled, pointing at the ship flying toward us. I rolled my eyes and did as I was ordered. We piled in and the shuttle turned around and flew away.

"Okay, now that we're all safe and sound… What went wrong?!" I asked, irritated. _Oh that's right I know exactly what happened! Cus over here did exactly what he was told _not_ to do!_

"Things were getting tight," Cus defended, embarrassed.

"Oh, okay so it gets a little rough and so you go ahead and disobey a _direct order!_" I yelled, outraged. _Everything was going just fine. It was perfect. And little wimp over here had to screw up._

"Derk it's not your place to lecture another troop," Caps cut in. Rage overwhelmed me. _What?! Did he just defend him? I thought it was Caps who was going to be raging?_

"Oh than how 'bout _you_ do _your_ job!" I yelled back. "What was it you said? I'll shoot you myself? Was that it? Because right now, you don't look very upset. As a matter a fact, you look quite pleased!"

"Calm down Derk, we completed the objective. The base is absolutely destroyed and all the probes are dead," Caps replied, calmly. "It was a mission success. The third nuke would have been a waste anyways."

I was about to argue when I realized how stupid and childish I was being. Embarrassment weighed on my shoulders. Knowing I couldn't fight them I turned and marched away, to the front of the medivac. Unfortunately this was as far away as I could get from them. _Man do I miss my old team. How am I going to survive with these guys? Ugh this is going to be a long couple years._

* * *

**Hey everyone! I am sorry this one took longer. I went on vacation last week and its hard to wright when I am away, because I don't have a laptop. :C But that's okay! As long as you guys understand.**

**So a pretty exciting chapter in my humble opinion, but I had a lot of trouble when Derk was meeting his squad. Trying to introduce them properly was really hard. I hope I did okay. So thank you guys for your support and please review and tell me what you thought. I really like to hear what you guys have to say!  
**

**P.S. Sorry but I am leaving on vacation tomorrow... again. But I will be back this Sunday. YEY! Enjoy reading!_  
_**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

**Rod's POV**

I sat in my bed staring at the ceiling. It's morning and today I have to take the Anecode Assessment. I am certainly not looking forward to it._ Hmph, if this goes like my physical exam yesterday, well then…huh, I don't want to think about it._ I sat up and looked around. Recruits didn't get the pleasure of sleeping in a supply depot, so we all had to lie down on hard wooden boxes. Or at least it felt like it.

I rose out of bed, opened up my chest I had been given, and took my clothes out. Putting on my tan jeans I noticed other people waking. I threw on a white t-shirt and walked out the door.

Suddenly a loud siren went off. I jumped and tripped over my own feet. _Huh, and there's the wakeup call._ I continued down the stairs at the end of the hallway. _And now to the cafeteria._ Entering the lunchroom, I stepped in line. _Man, this feels like I'm in school again._

I yawned, still tired from going to bed late last night. I got lost wondering the halls and embarrassingly had to ask for help. Approaching the counter I was handed a plateful of some sort of brown mashed potatoes. Groaning to myself I sat down at a table in the back.

_You'd think for being so much further in technology, that they'd have better ways of serving food. _Looking down at my breakfast, I slowly raised a spoonful to my mouth. I quickly put it in my mouth and swallowed. _Uh, nasty._

"Hey!" a voice yelled from behind. "This is my table!"

I turned around to see an angry short guy marching toward me. I rolled my eyes and got up. Moving to another spot, I sat down, annoyed. _People here are so immature! "Hey that's my table!" _I mimicked.

I continued to shove food into my mouth, irritated. _Ugh, where's Nicky? I didn't see him this morning._ Eating the last bit of my food, I stood up and hastily rushed out of the cafeteria. I didn't feel comfortable being around so many people. _I guess I'd better go find him_.

Wondering back to the bedrooms, I searched around.

"Hey Nicky?" I said, checking each bed. "You in here, man?"

I continued to walk around the room, until finally finding him. Nicky was kneeling next to his bed with his head bowed and arms folded. _The heck is he doing?_

"Yo man, what's up?" I asked, approaching him. After a couple of seconds, Nicky stood up and turned toward me.

"Sorry Rod. I was just praying," he responded.

"What the crap do you mean? You never went to church," I questioned, confused.

"Oh, no of course not. A guy last night told me that the Xel'Naga are coming down to take over. He said if we don't worship and pray to them, then they would enslave and kill us," Nicky said, shrugging. "I thought it better to be safe than sorry."

"What?!" I said. "Ugh, Nicky these Xel'Naga people don't exist! Stop believing everything you hear."

"But, I just wanted to be sure."

"Okay whatever, just go down to the lunchroom and eat something," I replied, rubbing my temples. "Then we need to go take the assessment."

"Sure," Nicky said, slumping his shoulders. "See ya in a bit then."

"I'm going to head down, is that alright with you?" I asked, following him out of the room.

Yeah, I don't care," Nicky said, dryly. I watched him walk away. I was about to call out and say something, but decided against it. _Eh Nicky'll be his proper self soon. I'm not even worried._

I strolled down the hall, thinking to myself. Until I realized that I had completely forgotten where I was told to go. Perhaps it was in the same place as my last test. I turned directions and headed back the other way.

Finally I reaching my destination, I stepped through the glass doors and approached the girl at the desk.

"Hey—" I started.

"Are you here for the Anecode?" She asked.

"Uh, I-I, uh; yes. How did you—" I said, stunned.

"Your name Rod?" the girl responded.

"Uh yeah that's right."

"Good. Doctor Slove will be with you shortly," The girl said. I stood awkwardly for a second, losing myself in my thoughts.

"Take a seat Private," she said, looking up from her paperwork. Embarrassed, I did as I was told, rolling my eyes. _Fine, I'll "take a seat." _After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, the same black guy from before came into the room and called out my name.

I rose up and followed the man through the door and down a couple hallways. He brought me into a small room with a large computer.

Sitting me down he said, "Okay, the Doctor will be with you in a couple minutes. Please wait patiently."

I sat and waited for a while until Slove finally decided to show up. Without wasting anytime, he handed me a rectangular object with cords coming out the bottom. The device felt like a grip on a pistol.

"Keep a good hold on this until we're done," he said. I nodded. The doctor pulled out a curved piece of medal from a drawer. And just like the object I was holding, it had wires extruding from the back. "Okay, you're going to have to wear this over the back of your neck."

"Alright," I said, letting him put it on me.

"I have to scan your eyes real fast, kay?" the man stated, putting welding-like goggles over my eyes. A quick flash of red illuminated my view. Seconds later Slove removed the device from my head.

"Okay then, now that that is over, we can continue on with the questions," he said, retrieving a clipboard from the table behind him. "Well let's get started. I am going to give you a series of words. You tell me the first thing that comes to your mind. First word: Death."

"My future," I mumbled, unenthusiastically. The doctor huffed, obviously irritated.

"Son, will you please cooperate. I have a lot of things I need to do and don't have time for stubbornness," he responded.

"Eh, sure," I said, halfheartedly. The man huffed again and continued to question me.

"Again, what do you think of when I say death?"

"Bodies," I answered.

"Love," he continued.

"Family."

"Hate."

"Tests," I said, slightly sarcastically. Slove must not have noticed because he carried on without mentioning anything.

"Open."

"Box."

"Closed."

"Door."

"Alright, we're done with that," the man said, flipping the page. "Now into more important matters. Do you want to be here?"

I hesitated, but then responded quickly, "Yes." Hoping he wouldn't catch my lie.

"Have you ever participated in any kind of military training before?"

"No."

"Do you know what the Zerg are?"

"Yes."

"What do you know about them?" he asked, adjusting his glasses.

"They're scary. They like to kill things and are really dangerous. You guys are at war with 'em," I said, being completely truthful.

"Do you know who the Protoss are?"

"Yes."

"What do you know of them?"

"Not much, if anything at all."

"Well tell me what you know."

"They have shields and shoot lasers," I said, simply. Slove sighed and continued to write my answers down.

"Which Terran unit interests you most?"

"I don't know," I responded. _I never really cared._

"Try to think of something."

"Uh, ghosts probably," I said, shrugging. _Man I don't know. Ghosts seemed pretty cool._

"Why?" the man asked, spinning his pen between his fingers.

"Pff man, come on. I have no idea," I said, annoyed. "Because they have mind powers."

"Okay," he said, looking down at his paper. "Do you consider yourself an easy learner."

"Yeah, sure."

"Any other units you take interest in?"

I thought for a minute. This might be pretty important that I answer this correctly. _Reapers are really cool. It'd be awesome to fly around in one of those things…_ _Or maybe one of those amazing marauder guys… Hmm nah. _

"Private?" Doctor asked.

"Oh yeah, sorry. I-I think Marines are cool," I said, feeling rushed. _Oh crap, that was the worst thing to say. Marines are the worst! I've heard all kinds of terrible stories about what happens to them. _

"Okay that'll be all. Tomorrow Seargent Major Baker will notify you on what you need to do and where you need to go. Lucky for you, you get the rest of today to relax. Enjoy it while it lasts," Doctor Slove said, taking the device off my neck. He took the thing in my hand and set it on the table. "Can you make your way back?"

"Yeah," I said, wanting to take back what I had told him. _Great I've just dammed myself. Now I have to be a marine! If I ever see Crip again, I'll never hear the end of it!_ Standing up, I walked out of the room.

_I suppose I better go find Nicky again. I don't want him to miss this. _After finally arriving at the cafeteria, I looked around for my friend. _He's got to be here somewhere. _I checked the lines and then started patrolling around the border of the room.

Not seeing him, I decided to head to the bedrooms. With any luck, Nicky would be there. I headed down some stairs and continued on until reaching my destination. Seeing Nicky next to his bed, I approached.

"Hey man, have taken the Anecode yet?" I asked, slugging his shoulder.

"No, I was waiting for you," he responded, dryly.

"Oh, sorry bro," I said, feeling guilty for not waiting.

"Eh, don't worry about it. It's not that big of a deal," he replied, looking upset.

"So is there anything you need?" I asked, regretfully.

"Huh, what the heck could you do for me," Nicky said, leaving the room. I felt like going after him, but left it alone. _What is with him? Seriously, he hasn't been like this sense the day he wet his pants in first grade…_ _Eh, whatever. He probably doesn't want me breathing down his neck anyway. _

I walked out into the hall, and made my way to the showers. _I guess sense I have a whole day to do nothing I could start with cleaning myself up. Dang, today is going to be a long frikken twelve hours._

* * *

**Hey Everybody! I finally updated. I am really really sorry for the long wait. The moment I was done with the chapter I sped through a revision and uploaded as fast as I could. I had a real hard time writing this chapter. I don't know why... writers block maybe? But whatever. I will NOT take this long next time. Or I hope not. School is coming up in a few days so I may have just lied to you.  
**

**Anyways please review! You guys are one of the only reasons I still write. lol.**


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

**Derk's POV **

The medivac came to a halt on the ground and lowered the ramp. I left the cockpit and shoved my way passed the other ghosts. Valen growled something at me, but I simply cussed back and carried on. If that punk is looking for a fight, he'll get one.

_I am not in any mood to put up with his ignorance. _I marched into a close by training facility to let off some steam. Walking down a short hallway, I turned into what I thought was a shooting range. But before I could even fire a couple rounds, Caps came trailing in behind me.

"Derk stop," he said, seemingly frustrated. "You're making a big deal of something that doesn't matter."

"I'm not playing this game with you Caps," I huffed back. "You can just turn your stock around and go right back the way you came."

"Oh, you're not?" Caps asked, sarcastically. "And Derk's in charge correct? It's all about you."

"Caps, I'm not kidding. You mess with me now and you'll wish you hadn't," I said, turning away and loading my gun.

"This isn't just going to blow away. You can't expect to say what you please and just walk off, like you rule the universe!" he said, raising his voice. "Man up like a ghost should and face your mistake."

"Mistake! No, I think you have it all wrong. If you don't remember it was your friend Cus over here that "made a mistake,"' I said, turning back around to face him. "I didn't do a thing!"

"Derk, I know about your condition. Now I understand your still recovering and you have problems controlling your emotions. But you have to take control of yourse—"

"What?! Condition?!" I'd lost it. "You don't know me! In fact it looks like you don't know much of _anything_!"

"Calm down soldier! If you don't I _will _use force!" he replied. I saw him back a couple steps away, and reach for his knife. I stopped, noticing what was happening. Relaxing my shoulders, I set my gun aside. After waiting a few uncomfortable seconds I finally spoke up.

"Okay… fine. You win," I said, shrugging. "You wanna talk about me and my life, fine. Let's talk."

I sat down and slumped back in the chair. _If we were going to have it his way I am going give him as much attitude as I can._ Caps stood still for a second, until finally nodding and taking a seat.

"So, my _condition,_" I said. "Let's start with that. What do you know?"

The squad leader took a moment, but then eventually responded. "I know that you had an episode with a medic named Teresa Treeton. Following that display you were then sent to a hospital and whatever was wrong was taken care of."

"If so then why do you suggest that I'm still having problems?" I asked.

"Well, they said that you're still recovering and should be fine in a couple days," Caps answered. "And sense you only had two, three more until full recovery I didn't think it would be that big of an issue. Well up until just now anyways."

"And you assume that me being upset is part of my _condition,_" I questioned, annoyed. "What if that was just a ghost irritated that he can't trust his own squad?"

"A well trained ghost should be able to control himself better than that," Caps replied. "Especially one of your class."

"So what now?" I asked. "Am I going to be discharged? Gunna get rid of me? Just like that?"

"No. I just want you to know that I understand and I—"

"I don't want your sympathy," I said, cutting him off.

"Well then what _do _you want Derk?" Caps asked. "Hmm? What? Do you even care? Are you so selfish that you put yourself in front of everybody? You're the most important then huh? Am I right? Tell me I'm wrong."

"Yes Caps. You _are_ wrong. Everything I've ever done… ever tried to accomplish, was for the Orange Terran. So much that my life doesn't even matter. I am the troop that runs into a suicide mission with a smile on my face," I replied, calmly. "And you know what Caps… I can't help the Orange Terran if I'm _dead_. So you ask me, what do I want? Well I'll tell ya… I want you to make sure that Cus is _never_ covering my back. In fact I want him in front of me at all times."

Not waiting for him to respond, I stood up and walked out of the shooting range. _I don't care what happens to me. Huh, if I'm lucky he might request for a transfer. I'll never have to deal with them again. _I continued walking. I didn't even know where I was going and at the moment didn't care. _No. That won't help. There will always be men that don't know what they're doing. I'll just have to put up with them. And isn't that what a ghost does. Adapt? Yes… yes, I will adapt. _

Moving along the corridor I grazed my hand against the wall. I walked out the glass doors and right into Valen.

"Where do you think you're goin'?" the man asked. "Think you can just run away from it all."

"Move Valen," I barked.

"I'm not going anywhere," he taunted. "I knew the moment I saw you that you were going to cause trouble."

"I'm not going to ask again," I replied, angrily.

"No."

We stood for a few moments glaring furiously at each other. And right when I was about to throw myself at him a voice came from behind.

"Hey guys, we 'ave an incoming transmission from Colonel Fou," Miesha yelled. "We better go see what tis all about! With any luck we 'ave a new mission!"

I immediately turned around and headed toward the ghost.

"Another time, dim wit," Valen taunted from behind. I ignored his threat and carried on. _No matter what happens, I can't lose it. I have to keep it together._ Entering the mission control room, I looked up to see Fou's black face up on the transmission screen. He wore his green beret and a face that showed no emotion. Impossible to read.

"Ghost Team Alpha, I have a rather important mission for you. Where 's your squad leader?" The man asked.

"I am here," Caps responded, coming in the door. I merely glanced back for a moment, but quickly rotated back.

"Good. This is everyone correct?" The Colonel said. I looked around to make sure we weren't missing anyone.

"Yes this is all of us," Caps replied.

"Lieutenant Mullfur is unable to be with us, so I will be taking command here today," Fou said, his hands behind his back. "Lucky for us there is a Protoss Executor traveling into our quadrant at roughly six p.m. tonight. In our terms he is the rank of General, for those of you who didn't know.

"Caps, you will pick two men of your choice to lead the raid on the Protoss Main Base. Try not to get anybody killed and above all… assassinate that Executor," Colonel Fou said, leaning forward. "I don't care what you do with the other soldiers, but we can't send an entire squad in. It's dangerous enough that we're sending in _two_ ghosts. This is an open window that we cannot miss."

"It will be done Colonel," Caps said, nodding. Right before closing the transmission Fou stopped him.

"And one more thing Corporal," he said. "If not done quickly, the Executor will join up with an army and drive us into oblivion. Complete this mission with haste."

And with that, the conduction ended and we all starred awkwardly at each other.

"Well we all know who the two are," Valen said, confidently.

"Definitely not you," Miesha said, folding his arms. "If anybody, Bone is going in. And with your pride irradiating off you like dat, there's no dought da Protoss will smell you a mile avay."

"Hold up, I personally think that me being the skinniest, I should go," Cus said putting his hand on his chest.

"Absolutely not! I don't want a coward going in on such an essential mission," I said stepping forward.

"Yeah, and just because your small doesn't mean your stealthy," Valen said, raising his hand just above his hip. Following that comment, the whole room broke out into a chorus of chaos. Everyone was yelling at once, and no one could get anywhere. After ten minutes of disarray, Skullbone decided to speak up.

"Everybody _quiet!_" he yelled, stopping everyone dead. "It is up to Caps and Caps only, to decide who leads us. And _no one_ will argue with him. Show the man some respect!"

We all stepped back and muttered to ourselves, while our squad leader took the floor.

"Well, being three o'clock and all, we have a couple hours until we need to depart," he said, looking around the room. "And I need a moment to think. So get your guns and ammo set, if they aren't already and I will retrieve all of you when I've made a decision."

The Corporal turned and walked out of the room leaving us with another few awkward moments. Not wanting to be there any longer, I made my way to the shooting range. _Might as well practice. _Doing what I had planned to do earlier, I readied my gun, aimed down the sight and fired at the target.

Smiling I lifted my eyes from the scope, satisfied. The bullet had hit right in the center. I continued practicing several more times until there wasn't any more red in the bull's eye. Moving on to the next stage, I shot several shells at the Zergling boards sliding back and forth. It wasn't long before Caps strolled in.

"Hey; Derk," he said, walking toward me.

"Have you made your decision yet?" I asked, firing.

"As a matter a fact I have," he responded. "I would appreciate it if you and Cus would be our two infiltrators.

"Heh, is this some sort of sick joke?" I asked, sarcastically; surprised as I was, I did appreciate it.

"You're welcome," he responded. Letting Caps know I was grateful, I nodded toward him. He gestured back to, in understanding.

"Wait," I said, stopping him. "Don't get me wrong on this Caps, but I don't know how I feel about—"

"Derk. You _did _say that you didn't want Cus covering you."

"I know but as my—"

"It's okay. Cus may be a bit of a coward, but I assure you that he is more than capable," Caps replied, approaching the door. "Cus is fast. You'd be surprised at how reliable he can actually be."

I looked down at my rifle as my squad leader exited. _Man don't screw this up. You don't have to prove yourself to these punks. Pay attention and fight well. These are the kinds of missions I used to go on all the time. No need to be nervous._ I stood up straight and left the range. _But then again, I had Tenny on my right hand side. Ugh… Cus better impress me, because right now… I don't feel good about this mission._

* * *

**Sup Bros! Here is another chapter! I felt really bad about taking so long on the last one, and sense school is coming up shortly I am afraid that's how long there going to start taking unfortunately. :C So I really wanted to get another chap. out. And don't worry! I didn't rush it. Even though it took a day to write. lolz I feel much better about this one. :D**

**I don't know why but I am having MAJOR trouble with Rod's chapters. He is so much harder to write than Derk is. IDK! So please give any suggestions and feedback in the comments please! Do you guys think Rod's chap. are bad? **

**And of course THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT!**


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